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The Baptist Debt To 
The World 



BY 



J. W. Porter, D.D., LL.D. 

Author The World's Debt to the Baptists 

Editor of the Western 

Recorder 




Louisville, Kentucky 
Baptist Book Concern 



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Copyright, 1917 
THE BAPTIST BOOK CONCERN 



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OCT 29 1917 


©GU477252 


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INTRODUCTION. 

After many years of intimate friendship and 
hearty co-operation with Dr. J. W. Porter, 
pastor, editor, evangelist and most zealous con- 
tender for the faith once for all delivered to the 
saints, I take great pleasure in introducing his 
latest volume, entitled, ''THE BAPTIST DEBT 
TO THE WORLD," and other doctrinal ser- 
mons. 

This volume is a compilation of many of the 
best sermons from one of the South 's greatest 
preachers. It has been my privilege to hear Dr. 
Porter deliver these sermons. They are logical, 
convincing and persuasive. They are a presen- 
tation of Bible truths much needed to be con- 
sidered by the world. They deal with the funda- 
mental convictions of Baptists, and so well merit 
a most careful and prayerful consideration at 
the hands of all Baptists. They are from the 
brain and heart of one of the greatest living 
soldiers of the Cross. The author is known 
throughout the land as one of the foremost ex- 
pounders and contenders for Baptist beliefs. 
He has probably done as much to conserve Bap- 



tist orthodoxy throughout the South, by his pen 
and from the pulpit, as any other living man. 

As one who has given over seventy years of 
his life to the Baptist cause, I most heartily 
"welcome the publication of this comprehensive 
Baptist message, and place my sanction upon it, 
and pray God's guidance as it goes forth to 
make Baptists of the sons of men. 

W. E. PoWERSc 



CONTENTS 



Chapter 



I. 



Chapter II. 
Chapter III. 
Chapter IV. 



Chapter 
Chapter 



V. 
VI. 



Chapter VII. 

Chapter VIII. 

Chapter IX. 

Chapter X. 

Chapter XI. 

Chapter XII. 

Chapter XIII. 

Chapter XIV. 

Chapter XV. 

Chapter XVI. 

Chapter XVII. 



page 
The Baptist Debt to the 

World 7 

The Old Paths 38 

Contending for the Faith 52 
The Final Preservation of 
the Saints 60 

Characteristics of a Scrip- 
tural Church 73 

The Perpetuity of a 
Scriptural Church 84 

Restricted Communion . . 98 

Restricted Baptism 112 

The Church-Branch The- 
ory 135 

Salvation and Its Substi- 
tutes 145 

Church Union 158 

Election 168 

The Doctrine of Missions. 179 
Baptists and Union Meet- 
ings 186 

The Authority to Baptize.193 
Women Speaking in Mix- 
ed Assemblies 206 

The Act of Baptism 234 



1. 

•*THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD." 

(Introductory Sermon Before Southern Baptist 

Convention, Houston, Texas. 

J. W. Porter.) 

**I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to 
the Barbarians; both to the wise, and the 
unwise." Romans 1:14. 



I would prove untrue to my feelings, and to 
the feelings of the mighty host here assembled ; 
and above all to the cause of truth, were I not 
at this point to express for you and to you, the 
sincere sorrow we, one and all, feel over the de- 
parture of one who did more for Texas Baptists, 
and more to hasten the coming of Christ *s King- 
dom in Texas, than anyone else who ever lived 
or died in its broad and blessed domain. Without 
naming him, the towering form of the Christly 
Carroll rises in might and majesty before us. 

7 



8 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Like Roderick of old, wko gave his shrill whistle 
to summon his men before Fitz-James — 

"That whistle garrisoned the glen, 
At once with full five hundred men 
As if the yawning hill to heaven, 
A subterranean host had given." 

And now we may say : 

"Where was Roderick then? 
One blast of his bugle horn 
Were worth a thousand men." 

"The great men pass, we stand 
Appalled and say, 
How shall we live when 
These have left our day? 
How shall we fight when 
Splendid leaders fall? 
How work, when silent 
Is their bugle call?" 

He is gone, but in his going, like the setting 
sun, he has colored the sky with a flame of 
golden glory. He is dead, but he lived the life 
of an immortal, and died the death of the death- 
less. 

]\Iay the Holy Spirit guide us in the quest 
of truth as we strive to study together the subject 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 9 

to which I trust I have been providentially 
directed— " The Baptist Debt to the World." 

In the final accounting, every man is a world 
asset, or a world liability. We are all debtors, 
and all should be creditors. We are all debtors 
to Christ, and should be creditors of His creat- 
ures. The fact that Christ is our creditor makes 
us debtors to a dying world. 

A spiritual debt is more sacred than an 
ordinary financial obligation. Since every hon- 
est man will make a real effort to pay his debts, 
it should follow that every Christian will earnest- 
ly endeavor to discharge his spiritual indebted- 
ness. The wilful failure to pay an ordinary 
debt entails commercial disgrace, and an un- 
willingness to pay spiritual indebtedness should 
be deemed doubly disgraceful, and an aggravat- 
ed form of downright dishonesty. 

Whatever may be our differences, we are all 
agreed that Baptists owe a debt to a dying 
world, and that, by the help of God, this debt 
shall be paid. And While it is true that Baptists 
have their differences, yet they are Baptist dif- 
ferences ; and Baptist differences are more sacred 
to Baptists than alien agreement. For my own 
part, I would rather be a freeman and if needs 
be differ with my brother, than live in forced 
agreement for fear of the ecclesiastical lash. 



10 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

After all, difference is not always a doubtful 
blessing; for while difference is always a sign 
of life, indifference is not infrequently a symp- 
tom of spiritual dissolution. In all our differ- 
ences let us never forget that we are brethren, 
and woe be to him who would attempt to spy 
out our liberty; even to contend with one 
another. 

The Baptist debt to the world is specifically 
stated in the Commission. The Commission as 
I see it, was given to the churches; and unless 
Baptist churches get their mission from the 
Commission, they are without a mission and 
should go out of commission. If the Commission 
was not given to the churches, then the churches 
are usurping authority in preaching, teaching, 
and baptizing, and should immediately cease 
their high-handed usurpation. So far as my 
information extends, Baptist churches are the 
only bodies that profess to carry out the Com- 
mission in the exact manner and order in which 
it was given. Many of the past and current theo- 
logical controversies, probably unconsciously to 
those engaged in them, find their real source in 
the Commission, and here, if I mistake not, will 
be waged and won the world's greatest ecclesias- 
tical battle. 

I shaU first attempt to define this debt, if not 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 11 

according to our wishes, at least in a manner to 
meet the demands of Scripture. The initial item 
in this list of indebtedness is the command to 
preach the Gospel. Nothing, not even the print- 
ed page can ever take the place of the preached 
word, evermore the prophet must have his 
place. He cannot, as of old, foretell, but as a 
mouthpiece for the Almighty, he can declare. 
He is no longer the seer, but he can, and should, 
be the sage. The first and fundamental duty of 
the preacher is to preach, and preach the Gospel. 
Christ is a substitute for our sins, but there can 
be no substitute for the Gospel of Christ. Merry 
music; picture shows; spectacular and panto- 
mime performances can never take the place of 
the Blessed Gospel of the Son of God. Such 
things may enchant for the moment, but they 
can never lead to Calvary, or grip and hold the 
heart of mankind — ■ 

"E'er since by faith I saw the stream 

Thy flowing wounds supply; 
Redeeming love has been my theme, 

And shall be till I die." 

Sociology is a good thing in its place, but its 
place is not the pulpit, but the school room. 
The world needs theology more than it needs 
sociology. Many make the mistake of beginning 



12 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

with man and trying to work up to God instead 
of beginning with God and working down to 
men. In the beginning was God, and in the end 
will be God. Any system of sociology that does 
not begin and end with the blood of Jesus Christ, 
will inevitably end in confusion worse con- 
founded. 

At this point it is well to note that there is 
a vast difference between lecturing and preach- 
ing. Had Socrates contented himself with 
lecturing he would have never tasted the fatal 
hemlock. The difference between the lecturer 
and the preacher is, in many respects, the dif- 
ference between Socrates and the sophists. The 
lecture may be popular ; the Gospel is powerful. 
Instead of trying to popularize the Gospel, we 
had better polarize the pulpit. 

"We hear much now-a-days about a new Gos- 
pel. When it is demonstrated that there is a 
new God, a new Christ and a new Bible, then, 
and not until then, will I commit my life to a 
new Gospel. Apropos the story of Pauleaux, a 
member of the French Directory, who invented 
a new religion which he called Theophilanthropy. 
Seeing that his religion made little progress he 
complained to Talleyrand of the difficulty of 
getting the people to accept his religion. Where- 
upon Talleyrand told him to go and get crucified, 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 13 

and to be buried and rise again the third day, 
and then go on working miracles; healing all 
manner of diseases, and then he would probably 
gain a following. I have but little faith in the 
pleaders, and no faith in the pleas that the old 
Gospel is losing its power. It is not the old 
Gospel that has lost power, but the preacher who 
has lost faith in the power of the Gospel, Far 
better lose your pulpit than your pulpit lose its 
power by you. The pulpit will lose its power 
only when its occupant has lost the Gospel. 

"Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood 
Shall never lose its power. 
Till all the ransomed church of God 
Be saved to sin no more." 

I love life; yet I trust I shall not live long 
enough to cease to believe that the Gospel of 
Christ is the power of God unto salvation to 
everyone that believeth; and therefore a suffi- 
cient rule of faith and practice, and abundantly 
sufficient for the salvation and sanctification of 
every sinner under the sun. The difficulty is, 
many have been dealing in dismal doubts instead 
of eternal verities, and hence a multitude of 
spiritual agnostics. We need a revival of faith 
in our message and in the God of our fathers 
until with Job of old we say, ^'I know that my 



14 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Redeemer liveth." I can see the old patriarch and 
his black Arabian steed staked to his tent. I can 
see him as he stands alone in the silence of the 
night gazing into the serene and shining path- 
way of the everlasting stars. Though coming 
up out of great tribulation, I can hear him say, 
**I know that my Redeemer liveth. . . .yet out 
of my flesh shall I see God.*' In his unshaken 
assurance he clasps hands across the centuries 
with the princely Paul. I can see this giant of 
grace as he closes his last letter to his beloved 
Timothy. With trembling hand he writes, *'I 
know Him whom I have believed, and am per- 
suaded that He is able to keep that which I have 
committed unto Him against that day." Ah, 
brethren, shall we not learn with the advancing 
years, that Christ is all — 

"I entered once a home of care. 
For age and penury were there. 

Yet joy and peace withal; 
I asked the lonely mother whence 
Her helpless widowhood's defence, 

She told me, 'Christ was all.* " 

*'I saw the martyr at the stake, 

The flames could not his courage shake, 

Nor death his soul appall; 
I asked him whence his strength was given. 
He looked triumphantly to heaven, 

And answered, 'Christ is all.'" 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 15 

"I dreamed that hoar-time had fled, 
And earth and sea gave up their dead, 

A fire dissolved the ball; 
I saw the church's ransomed throng, 
I heard the burden of their song, 

It was 'Christ is all in all.' " 

And just here I wish to affirm with all possible 
emphasis, that every preacher who believes in 
preaching and practicing the Gospel is, in some 
real sense, a missionary of the Cross, though he 
may not have gumption enough to know it, or 
grace enough to acknowledge it. There is no 
orthodoxy without missionary endeavor, and 
sometimes mighty little with it. The germ of re- 
generation is the genesis of missions, and a saved 
man will believe in the saving business. In my 
time, at home and abroad, I have seen many sad 
sights, and stood in many drear and lonely 
places ; yet I am persuaded that the bleakest spot 
on this earth is not the Alhambra, rich only in 
ruins, or the Parthenon, the eternal study and 
despair of the architects of the ages; or the 
Coliseum with its crumbling walls and forgotten 
glory, but the bleakest spot of deepest darkness 
and unutterable desolation is the blasted heath 
of an anti-mission heart. It is an established 
fact that when the sinking Titanic was sweeping 
the seas with its wild cry for help, a near-by 



16 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

vessel caught the cry and in a few moments 
could have been at the side of the sinking ship. 
But with inconceivable selfishness and unutter- 
able cruelty, the Captain refused to go to the aid 
of the great ship, soon to go down with its cargo 
of men, women and children. I would rather 
bear the mark of Cain and the name of Iscariot, 
and go down to a grave of everlasting oblivion 
than to have been the Captain of the ship that 
refused to go to the aid of the Titanic. "Were I 
that Captain, in my sleeping and in my waking 
moments, I would hear the wild shrieks of the 
dying, and see their awful and hopeless struggle 
against a watery grave, and the frightful 
picture, like Banquo's Ghost, would never down 
at my bidding. Yet I would rather have been 
the Captain of that ship, than with folded arms 
to sit in selfish silence, while men and women are 
daily dying about me without hope and without 
God in the world. 

The next item in our list of indebtedness, and 
one on which we have made only a partial pay- 
ment, is that of teaching, or our educational 
debt. I am not prepared to say, as a matter of 
strict exegesis, that education, as commonly un- 
derstood, is taught in the Commission, but I do 
affirm with all confidence that it logically grows 
out of the Commission, and that it is a fact and 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 17 

factor in carrying out the Commission. In some 
real, but limited, sense, the mission of the church 
may be defined by the words magistra mundi. 
If I mistake not, the century's and the church's 
call to culture is louder and clearer than ever 
before, yet the tree of knowledge is not the tree 
of life. 

I would not, however, as is quite common 
among us, emphasize education for the sake of 
leadership, but rather for Christ 's sake, and our 
country's sake. The final apology for culture is 
Christian service. We need educated men and 
women, who, by the alchemy of action, will trans- 
mute day-dreams into deeds of deathless devo- 
tion. We need knowledge applied to a worthy 
cause, and that cause, the coming of His King- 
dom in all the earth. 

Be it also understood that if Baptists have 
an educational debt, it is a Baptist debt, and can 
be liquidated only by Baptist teaching. And 
this leads me to say that every Baptist school is 
a Baptist asset, or liability, and I fear, in the 
past, they have been about as frequently one as 
the other. If a school is a denominational asset, 
we should support it far better than we have 
done in the past; if, to the contrary, it be a 
liability, we should change its character, or 
speedily arrange for its obsequies. It should be 



18 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

fathered or funeralized. It may be true that 
a man cannot teach denominational mathematics, 
but if he cannot teach mathematics so as to put 
a premium on Baptist principles and incite to 
Baptist achievement, it is mathematically certain 
that he is unfit for a chair in a denominational 
institution. The man who cannot generate a 
Baptist atmosphere should be forced to breathe 
some other. 

Strangely enough, our universities have 
proven our religious storm centers. From them 
have come the heterogeneous heretics, which, for 
sweet charity's sake, we call higher critics, but 
who are, in reality, enemies of the Cross. It is 
true, and may as well be said here as elsewhere, 
that the greatest tragedies of the last few de- 
cades have been our scholastic tragedies. As I 
speak, there rises before me the sainted and 
saintly form of Luther Rice, who, with a zeal 
that was consuming, rode over hill and dale 
to collect funds to found an institution that 
through the years might stand for the faith once 
for all delivered to the saints. Where now is the 
school he helped to endow with denominational 
dollars ? Its birthright has been sold for a mess 
of pottage, and its denominational relation 
changed for a cash consideration. 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 19 

"111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey. 
Where weaHh accumulates and men decay.'* 

Just here we are called upon to face a 
question in casuistry as provoking as it is per- 
plexing — ' ' Why should the scholastic conscience 
be less sensitive than that of the ordinary indi- 
vidual ? " It is a tragic fact that many of the de- 
nominational schools have, through their of- 
ficial representatives, certified in writing that 
they are in no sense sectarian or denominational, 
that they might be placed upon the pension list. 
This statement will probably not be particularly 
appreciated by those who have a peculiar pen- 
ch-ant for the pie counter. 

"Perish policy, perish cunning; 
Perish all that fears the light; 
Turn from man, and look above him; 
Trust in God and do the right." 

I believe I speak advisedly when I say that 
Christianity's greatest battle will be with a 
Christless civilization. Well may we pray to be 
delivered from a Christless culture. Like Ab- 
salom, civilization has turned to destroy its own 
parent. That civilization without Christ is more 
dangerous than unmitigated ignorance has been 
demonstrated in the present cruel conflict. 



20 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Christian education is, then, the universal im- 
perative of our times. As it now appears,. 
Christian education will find its greatest con- 
crete expression in the Christian college, which, 
without doubt, is one of our greatest denomina- 
tional assets. Nor is the day of the denomina- 
tional college dead, as some have surmised, but is 
only dawning. Baptists must have a studio, but 
let them build it hard by Calvary, where all its 
learning will be tinted with the crimson of the 
Cross. Baptists must know books, but let them 
remember that the book of all books is the Book 
by which they must live, move and have their 
being. If our knowledge shall be sanctified by 
these sacred pages, all will be well, however dis- 
couraging the outlook. Using the figure of 
another, on the wildest night I have ever known 
at sea, and when it seemed that every leap of the 
mighty ship would be its last, I could hear the 
voice of the lookout, *' All's well!" How false 
and foolish seemed his cry as it was lost in the 
wild shriek of the storm. But he spoke only the 
truth; and the mighty waves were breaking in 
impotent fury about the tempest-tossed ship, 
which was headed straight to the haven of rest. 
And so with the old ship of Zion, the wild waves 
of cruel and accursed criticism may beat mer- 
cilessly about her, but the angels of God are on 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 21 

the look out and she is headed straight home ! 

Another item in the list of our indebtedness, 
and one we cannot deny if we would, and would 
not if we could, is the duty and debt of baptism. 
It is ours to baptize according to the Gospel. To 
do this we must have a Scriptural subject, 
which, according to the New Testament, can be 
only a believer. Baptists do not, as they have 
sometimes been charged, believe in baptismal 
regeneration, but in the baptism of the regener- 
ate. A child must be bom a child, and when 
born, cannot be unborn by the world, the flesh 
or the devil. 

It would appear far more sensible, and equal- 
ly as Scriptural, to baptize a man to cure con- 
sumption of the lungs as to cure consumption of 
the soul. I know that baptism will not remit 
sins, as I have baptized those who give abundant 
evidence that they still retain them. We reach 
the Jordan by way of Calvary, and not Calvary 
by way of Jordan. The difference, though it 
may appear insignificant to some, is the difier- 
ence between works and grace, water and blood. 
The tide that washes life's sinful shores is a 
crimson tide ; the thread that binds man to God 
is a scarlet thread. "When Stonewall Jackson 
lay in state, in Richmond, Virginia, one of his 
old soldiers asked of the sentry that he be per- 



22 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

mitted to see the body. He was informed that 
the hours for receiving visitors were past, and 
that he would not be admitted. Shaking his 
armless sleeve, the old warrior said : ' ' I lost my 
arm in the Valley Campaign, and in the name 
of the blood I shed, I ask to see my Chieftain. ' ' 
The doors were opened, and the old soldier for 
a few moments silently, gazed upon the face of 
him who, in several respects, was the world's 
greatest military genius. Through His blood — • 
Lord of Lords and King of Kings — and His 
blood alone and only do we look for salvation 
from sin. 

"He breaks the power of canceled sin, 

He sets the prisoner free; 
His blood can make the foulest clean, 

His blood availed for me." 



4 



And mark you, we are commanded to baptize, 
not rantize. Here, too, the command must be 
paid in Scriptural and not in counterfeit coin. 
So far as I am informed, no other denomination 
administers baptism in the same way and for 
the same purpose as Baptists. Indeed, they have 
a Scriptural baptism all their own, and, which 
like the gold dollar, is taken at full face value 
in all the ecclesiastical markets of the universe. 
It was true yesterday, it is true to-day, and will 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 23 

be true to-morrow that here, as elsewhere and 
everywhere, only things that are equal to the 
same thing are equal to each other. According 
to Holy Writ, there is one Lord, one faith, and 
one baptism. It would be no more difficult to 
prove two faiths and two Grods than to prove 
two baptisms. Christ is our substitute, but there 
is no substitute for the command of Christ. Be- 
liever's baptism is the Baptist trust of the ages, 
and must be sacredly kept at all costs to the end 
of time. 

And now. Fathers in Israel and Fellow 
Citizens in Zion, I beg that you heed my 
prophecy, the day Baptists cease to make be- 
liever's baptism a test of church membership, 
that day is the identical day they will sign their 
own death warrant and earn their right to rest 
forever in a dishonored denominational grave. 

It should be said, and probably there is no 
better time and place than here and now to say 
it, that if the bewitching dream of Church 
Union is ever realized, it must rest upon the only 
possible and plausible basis of One Lord, One 
Faith and One Baptism. For such a day, we 
hope and pray; and that we may hasten its 
dawning, let us continue to declare the truth, 
until "Jesus shall reign". 

Let us now turn our attention to the way in 



24 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

which this indebtedness may be discharged. 
First of all, and perhaps chiefest of all, this debt 
can be liquidated by preaching a pure Gospel. 
It goes without saying, that a Gospel is pure or 
impure, and cannot be pure and impure at one 
and the same time. Like a dollar, it must be 
genuine or counterfeit ; of full value or valueless. 
The greater the pity, that people should be more 
exacting as to the purity of their daily bread 
than they are concerning the divine manna ; more 
careful to observe the rules of sanitation than the 
terms of salvation. "With all, a little fly will 
spoil the choicest pie, while a little error in spir- 
itual things is often deemed altogether palatable. 
A little poison may spell death in the pot. One 
drop of iodine will discolor many times its weight 
in water. A falsehood may be told in many 
ways; the truth in only one. The truth is not 
inclusive, but exclusive. Two plus two equaled 
four in the Garden of Eden and will when life's 
little day is ended. Not only does it equal four, 
but it equals nothing more nor less than four. 

We are told that it makes no difference what 
a man believes, as long as he does right. It 
would be nearer the truth to say it makes no dif- 
ference what a man does, if he believes right. 
One is neither saved nor lost for what he does, 
but by what he believes. The man who believes 



THE BA?TIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 25 

that one thing is as good as another, is himself 
good for nothing. He who loves truth will hate 
error, and this hatred for error will be in propor- 
tion to his love for the truth. "We need a revival 
of holy hatred for the impure ; yea, the spirit of 
Him who said, ''Do not I hate the abominable 
thing ? ' ' The man who follows the line of truth, 
will find himself going in the opposite direction 
of error. 

"We must learn that we are stewards of doc- 
trine as well as of dollars ; of the Gospel, as well 
as of gold. "We need a stewardship of faith as 
much as we do of finances; for finance, without 
faith, is dead ; or at least alive only to the Devil. 

Let not a false conception of love prevent us 
from contending for the faith once for all deliv- 
ered to the saints. If I rightly discern the signs 
of the times, a lawless love will prove the curse 
of our century. Christian contention is the in- 
evitable logic of Christian conviction. Chris- 
tianity is not only conciliatory, but contentious. 
A dearth of conviction will result in the death of 
contention. 

To be sure, our contention should be in love. 
"We should beget love if we have been begotten of 
it, for only the Christlike can conquer for Christ. 
To win, we must be winsome ; but winning is not 
worth while unless it means a victory for the 



26 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

truth. There can be no peace between truth 
and error until one or the other has found a 
forgotten grave. But truth must triumph. 

I know not what others might do, but 
for my part, were I forced to choose be- 
tween my family and my faith, with a heart 
bursting with a boundless love, and eyes 
blinded with unavailing tears, I would kissi 
good-bye to wife and children, and cling 
to the faith of my fathers. And in so 
doing, I would console myself with His 
words, ''Unless ye forsake father and mother, 
houses and lands, yea and your own life 
also, ye cannot be my disciples.'^ This, to 
some, may seem infinitely ''narrow," but 
let us not forget that it is the broad way, 
made for broad people, that leads to de- 
struction; while the "narrow way" leads 
through the wilderness of life straight home at 
last. 

Let us, then, stand like an oak on the storm- 
swept hills, laughing at the fiery lightning, defy- 
ing the furious flood, and waving its challenge 
to the rolling thunders. 

Not only must we preach a pure Gospel, but 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 27 

to meet our obligations, we must preach the 
whole Gospel. 

May the God of alLgrace and truth deliver us 
from a fragmentary Bible and a fractional Gos- 
pel. We are commanded to observe all things ' ' I 
have commanded you, ' ' and not what the people 
may demand of us. The minister cannot rightly 
divide the word of truth unless he has accepted 
the truth in its totality. In the last analysis, the 
Gospel is a unit, and can never be self-contra- 
dictory. It is not only indivisible, but also inde- 
structible. A half-truth may be dynamic, but 
certainly it is dangerous. Jesus saves, is a por- 
tion of the truth concerning salvation ; but in all 
of its completeness, it demands its complement 
— Jesus keeps. I here state as a Baptist axiom, 
that a Baptist church should never place itself in 
a position where it will be under any obligation, 
expressed or implied, to withhold any part of the 
Gospel. 

If we fearlessly preach a full Gospel, it may 
put us out of harmony with the spirit of the age, 
and also with many noble spirits; but happily 
for us, if it keeps us in harmony with Him who 
is the author of life and death. As of old, they 
cried to Him who was dying at duty's door: 
* * Come down from the Cross, ' ' so the call comes 
today to the faithful soldier of the Cross. No, 



28 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

"The consecrated cross I'll bear. 

Till death shall set me free. 
And then go home my crown to wear. 

For there's a crown for me.' 

Possessed with the spirit of compromise, 
Moses would never have refused to be called the 
sou of Pharaoh's daughter, but would have en- 
joj^ed the pleasures of sin for a season. With it, 
Daniel would have never entered the lion's den 
and bequeathed far-off generations an example 
of deathless devotion. With it, Shadrach, Me- 
shach and Abednego could never have entered 
the fiery furnace and come forth with their 
clothes not smelling of fire, but of myrrh, aloes 
and cassia out of the ivory palaces. Swayed by 
this spirit, Paul would have never sung praises 
to God at midnight in a prison. With it, the 
Baptists of Virginia and Rhode Island would 
not, at the price of blood and tears, have won 
for the world the priceless boon of religious 
liberty. 

Be it ours to preach the whole truth, though 
by so doing, we join the disembodied spirits of 
the brutal Bastile, and with our spiritual an- 
cestors glorify the guillotine. 

*'He has sounded forth the .trumpet that shall never 
know defeat; 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 29 

He is summoning the souls of men before His judg- 
ment seat; 

Oh, be quick, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant 
my feet; 
Our God is marching on." 

. Brethren, preach the word, and with the 
smile of God, you need not fear the frown of 
man. You whose ancestors were nurtured among 
the rending rocks, and whose eyes saw the sun 
die away in the darkness, and whose ears heard 
the words, *' Father, into Thy hands I commend 
my spirit," will verify the promise that, ''My 
word shall not return unto me void, but accom- 
plish the end whereunto I sent it". 

Contend for the right, and when the smoke 
of battle has cleared, the Lord of Hosts and the 
holy angels and the spirits of just men made 
perfect, and good men and women will shout the 
welcome, ' ' Hail ! the conquering hero comes. ' ' 

The last, and by no means the least, is our 
duty to preach the Gospel to the whole world. 
Until this is done, it is impossible to discharge 
our indebtedness to the world. 

The fact of individual redemption is the fiat 
for universal evangelism. The Commission is a 
command, and it is our duty not only to come to 
Christ, but to carry Him to others. "We come to 
carry. The field is the world and not any par- 



30 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

ticular part of it. We are to go not only to the 
uttermost parts of the earth, but to all the earth. 
The Commission is not provincial or territorial, 
but cosmopolitan and universal. It is bounded 
only by time and the universe. 

"With the French, home missions mean mis- 
sions in France ; with the English, home missions 
mean missions in England; but with God, mis- 
sions mean the map of God. We must preach 
the Gospel to every creature in all the earth. The 
solidarity of humanity is the assumption and the 
imperative of missions. Some day, and may God 
hasten the day, we shall come to know that the 
cannibal is our cousin, and that the despised and 
desolate denizen of the brothel should become our 
sister, by saving grace, through the blood of Him 
who died to redeem us one and all. 

"Go preach the Gospel to every creature," is 
the mandate for world-wide missions, and the 
marching orders of the redeemed. While the 
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in 
America is dividing territory, let Southern Bap- 
tists continue to divide the word of truth. It is 
well, too, to bear in mind just here, that it was 
not the uncultivated masses but the Christless 
classes that crucified Christ. To the neglected 
rich, and the forgotten poor, we must carry the 
message of Christ. Someone has surmised that 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 31 

Peter protested when Christ commanded the dis- 
ciples to preach the Gospel to "every creature.'* 
That Peter replied, ''Lord, do yon mean for us 
to preach forgiveness to the man that placed the 
crown of thorns on your brow?" But in tones 
of unspeakable pathos, the Master answered: 
''Preach it to every creature." Stunned and 
staggered at such infinite forgiveness, Peter 
said : * ' Shall we preach forgiveness to the merci- 
less wretch who plunged the spear into thy 
side?" As never man spake, soft and low and 
sweet, the Master says: "Go preach the Gospel 
to every creature." 

I know not to what extent America may "be- 
come a world-power, but I do know that the best 
way for our nation to become a permanent world- 
power, is to demonstrate God's power in the 
world. I cannot speak with assurance, or au- 
thority, as to "manifest destiny," but with all 
my heart, I do believe that the present cruel con- 
flict points the path to the splendors of Ameri- 
can missionary achievement. I know not 
whether the Constitution follows the flag, but 
this I know, the blood-stained banner of Calvary 
waves in protecting triumph over the head of the 
lonely missionary. And at this moment where 'er 
he be, on land or sea, as he lifts his eyes to the 



32 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

kindly skies and gazes into the mystery of thq 
milky way, with his soul he may say — 

"I know not where His islands lift, 

Their fronded palms in air; 
I only know I cannot drift 

Beyond His love and care." 

"And so beside the silent sea, 

I wait the muffled oeir; 
No harm I know can come to me, 

On ocean or on shore." 

**The *L0!' is inseparably connected with 
the 'GO!'" 

The ranks of the missionary may be deci- 
mated by death, but others will take their places 
on the far-flung battle line. The missionary may 
be buried, and the winds of ten thousand cen- 
turies sweep over his forgotten grave, yet the 
hand of an angel shall write the epitaph of the 
hero of the Cross, and his name shall be heralded 
in heavenly history forever and forever. 

Brethren, I believe we have trifled long 
enough with the eternal issue of the missionary 
problem. We should not cease praying earnestly 
"Thy Kingdom Come," but it is high time that 
we were willing to pay for His Kingdom to come. 
The world may not understand our orthodoxy, 
and it would be infinitely wiser and better if it 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 33 

did, but it can comprehend our offerings. Last 
year, our nation spent a billion and a half for 
strong drink; 800 million for tobacco; 750 mill- 
ion for jewelry, and more for chewing gum than 
for all mission causes. In spite of this, it is a 
fact that when missions fail, God's Kingdom 
fails among the children of men. It would seem 
that it is about time we were practicing our 
prayers. A confession of faith should be tanta- 
mount to a missionary subscription. 

I entertain the profound conviction that the 
next decade will largely determine the denomi- 
national destiny of the world. Hence the greater 
necessity for a mighty forward movement — 
move forward! move forward! move forward 
all along the line. 

I have seen the great creation of Louis David, 
known as ** Napoleon Crossing the Alps." Here 
and there are myriads of soldiers plowing their 
way through snow, men and horses are trying 
to carry the cannon up the steeps ; while far in 
advance is seen the wizard warrior, with death- 
less determination written upon his face, and 
his hand pointing to the heights above. 

A greater picture is the host of the redeemed 
pressing over mountains of difficulties, to carry 
the Gospel to the lost. 

I am not unmindful of the seeming effect of 



34 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD, 

the present war upon mission work. True, the 
enemies of the Cross may revel in ghoulish 
glee, for a time ; the night stars of hell may shine 
with brighter luster, for a little while, and the 
sons of Satan may shout with redoubled joy, for 
a season, but their seeming victory shall be their 
sure and everlasting defeat. For peace, perma- 
nent peace, shall come, and its coming is as sure 
as the coming of Christ's Kingdom in the heart 
of man. 

Out of the black storm of war the radiant 
rainbow of light and love, and joy and peace will 
be bom, and its angelic arch shall circle the earth 
in enduring praise. 

■"Peace, peace, wonderful peace, 

Coming down from the Father above. 

Sweep over my spirit, forever I pray, 
In fathomless billows of love." 

Thank God, the gentle dove of peace shall yet 
displace the fierce eagle of war, and wild flowers 
will yet bloom o'er the erstwhile blood-stained 
battlefield. In the mute mouth of the forgotten 
cannon, singing birds shall find their nesting 
places, and in trenches once drenched with 
brothers' blood, the lamb and the lion shall lie 
down together. Then shall the only artillery be 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 35^ 

the artillery of prayer that sweeps the heavens 
with conquering power. For the booming of 
the cannon and the roar of musketry have given 
place to the anthem of the skies — ' ' Glory to God 
in the highest ; on earth peace, good will to men." 

"When the war-drum throbs no longer 
And the battle-flags are furled, 

In the parliament of man, 
The federation of the world." 

Standing on the promontory of today, we be- 
hold in the dim distance the silent cemetery of 
the buried centuries. We read the epitaph, 
which tells in mournful numbers of the failures 
and successes of the serried years. For the mo- 
ment, we stand downcast and disheartened, and 
even faith seems to falter ; but we hear the song 
of the Psalmist — ''Yea, though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
evil ; for Thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff 
they comfort me." 

From the exalted eminence of today, we be- 
hold the wreck of many blighted hopes and 
blasted ambitions. In the presence of our humil- 
iating failures, we stand staggered and discour- 
aged; but lest we faint, there falls about us a 
light that never fell on land or sea, and by it we 



36 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

read the mystery of our tears and the divinity of 
our defeats. With this light conies the messenger 
of the morning, and he speaks, as only the Son 
of Man can speak — ' ' I will never leave thee nor 
forsake thee." And our souls answer back, 

"Through many dangers, toils and snarea 

I have already come; 
Twas grace that brought me on thus far, 

And grace will lead me home." 

From our vantage ground, we strive to look 
into the far future and read the story of the 
coming years. The distant sky seems blackened 
by many a cloud, and disturbed by many a 
storm, but from far over the everlasting hills we 
hear the clarion cry of Christ, *'I am with you 
even unto the end. " As we listen to the pledge 
of His perpetual presence, we exclaim with the 
princely Paul, *'Who shall separate us from the 
love of Christ?" 

Let us then take heart, for this we know, 
that by and by, in God's own good time, God's 
tomorrow shall become God's today, and by the 
alchemy of divine power the kingdoms of this 
world shall become the Kingdoms of our 
Lord and His Christ. Let us hope and pray, and 
work and give, that the day may not be far dis- 
tant when the mountains shall whisper to the sea, 



THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 37 

*' Redeemed," and the sea shall murmur back to 
the mountains, ''Redeemed"; and land and sky 
and sea together shall sing, ''Redeemed! Re- 
deemed ! Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb ! ' ' 
Then shall America shout aloud, ''One 
Lord ! ' ' and Europe and Asia shall answer back, 
"One Faith!" and Africa and the Isles of the 
Ocean, shall shout back, "One Baptism!" and 
the whole earth, and the angels of Heaven shall 
swell the far resounding chorus : * * One Lord, one 
faith and one baptism, ' ' for the knowledge of the 
Lord has covered the earth as the waters cover 
the sea. Then, with loud hallelujah, and uni- 
versal hosanna, and everlasting Amen! and 
Amen! we will praise the God from whom all 
blessings flow; for His Kingdom has come and 
His will is done on earth, as it is in Heaven ! 



IL. 

*^THE OLD PATHS/' 

"Ask for the Old Paths." Jer. 6:16. 

"I am the Way." John 14:6. 

Our age may justly be charged with discred- 
iting the deeds of other days and underestimat- 
ing the attainments of other times. We have 
fallen upon times when age antiquates rather 
than sanctifies; when the truth of yesterday is 
deemed the fable of today. The spirit of novelty 
has touched and tainted even the spiritual realm. 
* ' Give us the new, ' ' true or untrue, is the cry of 
our country. The landmarks of twenty cen- 
turies are the laughing stock of many of our 
generation. In the social, political, and religious 
world, there seems a determined desire to break 
away from the old moorings, and without chart 
or compass, to drift on unknown seas. To what 
extremity this tendency of our times may yet 
lead us, it is difficult to determine. At all events, 
the time is at hand when we should sound a note 
of alarm, and diligently seek the old paths. 



THE OLD PATH. 39 

Let us, then, note some of the characteristics 
of the old way. First of all, it is an OLD way. 
The Ancient of Days has established it, and 
while we should make progress, in this way, it 
must be progress in the God-appointed way. It 
is not to be progress out of, but in, the old way. 
It would be well for us to realize that there are 
eternal verities that neither time nor chance can 
change or improve. Two plus two equaled four 
in the garden of Eden, in the morning of time, 
and will equal exactly the same thing till time 
shall be no more. A circle is perfect and com- 
plete, and even the higher critics cannot improve 
on it. And this leads me to say, that there can 
be no such thing as a new truth, or a new theol- 
ogy. A new theology would imply a new 
**theos"; and a new religion presupposes a new 
revelation, which, according to Scripture, we 
have no right to expect. Truth is as unchange- 
able as the God who gave it, and until His nature 
changes His truth, His truth must remain un- 
changed. Well may we sing, 

'Tis The Old Time Religion." 

It was good enough for Broadus, 

And for Eaton in his day, 
And we are glad that we can travel 

In the good old-fashioned way. 



40 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

I love to think of "my church" — a Baptist 
church — standing the test of the centuries, and 
coming down the ages conquering and to con- 
quer. Nor can it be gainsaid that any church, 
which is not two thousand years old, is too young 
to demonstrate its divinity by divine declaration, 
or predicate its perpetuity by inspired prophecy. 
The church whose charter is not issued by 
Christ, and whose credentials are not in Christ 's 
handwriting, must, sooner or later, see the hand- 
writing on the wall. Every man-made church 
must share the fate of man, and since it has been 
appointed unto all men once to die, so shall it 
be with the work of their hands. True, there 
are those who hold that all churches, however 
much they may differ in doctrine, are church 
branches. The church-branch theory, at best, 
argues far more for the hearts than it does for 
the heads of those who hold it. Things that are 
not equal to the same thing never can equal each 
other. It is hardly thinkable that Christ would 
institute two churches diametrically opposed to 
each other and then tell us that a house divided 
against itself cannot stand. The final criterion 
in all ecclesiastical contention, is the sign-manual 
of the Saviour, and sanctity and succession, 
must alike characterize the church that was built 
on the rock. Though hoary with age, time writes 



THE OLD PATH. 41 

no wrinkles on its brow, and being bom out of 
the divine purpose, it was never born to die. 

The child of Corsica, standing under the 
shadow of the pyramids, on the eve of a great 
battle, and pointing to the pinnacle of the 
mighty monument of stone, said, ''Men of 
France, from yonder height forty centuries look 
down upon you. ' ' So tonight I offer you the in- 
spiration of a like, though infinitely greater, 
truth when I say, ''Baptists of Kentucky, two 
thousand years of church achievement look down 
upon you, to woo you by the witchery of years, 
and beckon you to greater things for the coming 
centuries. ' ' 

Along this ancient way, hovers a mighty 
cloud of witnesses, the disembodied spirits of 
our deathless dead encouraging us in the way, 
for "they too once went sorrowing here." And 
though the old way leads through mists and 
shadows, through tears and strife, it leads at last 
to a city whose builder and maker is God. 

"I saw a wayworn traveler 

In tattered garments clad, 
And struggling up the mountains. 

It seemed that lie was sad; 
His back was heavy laden. 

His strength was almost gone, 
Yet he shouted as he journeyed. 

Deliverance will come." 



42 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD, 

"I saw him in the evening, 

His head was bending low, 
He had o'ertopped the mountain, 

And reached the vale below; 
He saw the golden city, 

His everlasting home, 
And shouted loud hosannas. 

Deliverance will come." 

*T heard the song of triumph 

They sang upon that shore. 
Saying Jesus has redeemed us 

To suffer never more; 
Then turning his eyes backward. 

O'er the race which he had run, 
He shouted loud hosannas, 

Deliverance has come." 

This old way is a BLOOD-BOUGHT way, 
Blood at the beginning, blood all along the way, 
and blood at the end of the way. Abel 's offering 
was acceptable because it was a bloody offering; 
and all down the ages to the coming of our King, 
the bloody sacrifice pointed to the Lamb of God 
for sinners slain. And after all is said concern- 
ing the difference of the two dispensations, the 
fact remains that every person who has ever been 
saved, has been saved by the same power — the 
dynamics of divine blood. It is as true today, as 
long ago, on an Egyptian midnight, that only the 
blood can divert divine wrath. 



THE OLD PATH. 43 

Probably no deadlier doctrine can be 
credited to the past century than immer- 
sion as a condition of pardon. Beyond 
doubt, the coming of Alexander Campbell 
has caused many to make water as in- 
dispensable as blood, and this to their 
everlasting undoing. Either Christ did 
or did not make a complete atonement; 
either his blood does or does not cleanse 
from all sin. To attempt to supplement 
the atonement, is to render it of non- 
effect. It is the blood of Christ, neither 
plus nor minus, that brings salvation to 
a lost and ruined world. 

Standing a few years since on Gol- 
gotha — in or out of the flesh, I know 
not — it seemed that I could hear again 
the dripping of the blood, and into my 
soul came these words: ' 

"Was it for crimes that I have done 
He groaned upon the tree? 
Amazing pity, grace unknown, 
And love beyond degree." 

Blessed be the blood! Blessed be the 
blood of the Son of God! Back to the blood 
be the cry of our century! 



44 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Another characteristic of this way is, 
that it is a NARROW way. Truth, by 
its very nature, is, and must be, nar- 
row. Its meets and bounds are immuta- 
bly established, and are as unchangeable 
as a mathematical equation. It is ex- 
clusive as well as inclusive; absolute, in- 
divisable and never contradictory. 

The modern cry for greater liberty 
in faith and teaching involves an undue 
liberty with truth, and is often raised to 
hide a horrible heresy. Truth offers all 
needed liberty to its votaries. Surely a 
train has more liberty on its track than 
in all the wide domain about it. The 
heavenly bodies have more liberty in their God- 
appointed orbits than they could have 
flying at random through unlimited space. 
The moment they leave their appointed 
paths, they become wandering stars, to 
be lost in the blackness of darkness for- 
ever. Of a truth there is a* 'broad way,'* 
made for broad people, and many there 
be that travel in it, but it leads to de- 
struction. Personally, we prefer the "nar- 
row way," for with all of its difficulties, 
it leads straight home at last. Truth ab- 
hors compromise, as virtue detests adul- 



THE OLD PATH. 45 

tery. Indeed, I know of no more pit- 
iable spectacle, than spiritual politicians 
sparring for points under union rules. 
Christian union, by a process of compro- 
mise and cancellation, is a crucifixion of 
the Gospel of Christ. A real Baptist be- 
lieves that he has the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth, and if 
so, what has he to compromise? 

Really, the proposition to compromise 
one's faith is an insult to any honest 
believer, and should be resented as such. 
Pilate is dead, and Pilateism should not 
be permitted to live. According to the 
spirit of our times, Shadrach, Meshach 
and Abednego acted very foolishly in 
going into a fiery furnace. Bowing down 
was a very small thing and to have 
done so would have shown a liberal spirit 
and avoided danger. Why should not 
Bunyan have compromised his faith and 
saved himself more than a decade of im* 
prisonment? Can it be that oir Russian 
brethren have acted unwisely in being 
sent to Siberia for their faith? Well 
may they say : 



4€ THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

"My hair is gray, though not with years, 

Nor grew it white In a single night, 
As men have grown from sudden fears. 

But mine has been the fate of those 
To whom the godly earth and air, 

Are banned and barred, forbidden fare; 
And for this my father's faith 

I suffered chains and courted death, 
And for the same his lineal race 

hi darkness found a dwelling place." 

We kiiow of nothing more alluring, or 
more deadly, than the siren's seductive 
song of union. The tiger growls before 
he pounces upon his victim; the rattle- 
snake gives his deadly rattle before he 
strikes; the viper gives his horrid hiss 
before he implants his venom; the eagle 
gives his wild scream of warning before 
he seizes his prey, but union, in the 
guise of friendship, without warning, be- 
guiles the unsuspecting from the faith 
once for all delivered to the saints. 

While Christ was nailed to the Cross, 
dying at duty's door, he was urged to 
compromise and ''come down from the 
Cross." Thank God, that he did not 
come down, but preferred crucifixion to 
compromise; death in the narrow way of 



THE OLD PATH. 47 

duty, rather than life in the broad way^ 
without conviction or character. 

After a long bloody day's battle, the 
Imperial Guard were called upon to sur- 
render. In response to the demand, a 
multitude of voices shouted, "The Old 
Guard can die, they cannot surrender." 
So with Baptists, long ago they learned 
how to die for truth, and we trust that 
they will never learn to live without it. 

Let us now notice some of the results 
of traveling in this way. 

First of all, we may have the assur- 
ance that we are in the way. I would 
not say, that if we are saved, we must 
know it, but I do emphatically affirm 
that if we are saved, we should know 
it. Assurance should be the part and 
portion of every child of God, and he 
should by all means enter into his in- 
heritance. Spiritual agnosticism is one of 
the current curses of Christianity. Believe 
me, it is not the Huxley without the 
church, but the Huxleys within the church, 
that are crucifying the cause of certitude 
among the children of men. "I don't 
know" never healed a broken heart, or 



48 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

built a Baptist ehurclL. Evermore it is 
true that "knowledge is power," power 
for time, and power for eternity. 

The vast concourse of people who hear 
me to-night must, one and all, go down 
to the tongueless silence of speechless clay. 
The speaker of this hour must perish 
and pass to nothingness; but I know the 
power of his resurrection, and though I 
die and the winds of ten thousand cen- 
turies sweep over my forgotten grave, yet 
out of my flesh I shall see God. Well 
may we sing : 

"Blessed assurances, Jesus is mine! 
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! 
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, 
Born of his spirit, washed in his blood." 

Another blessing of walking in this 
pilgrim path, is perfect safety. 

The thought of apostasy, though in- 
spired by Satan, has been the nightmare 
of the centuries. Opposed to this horrid 
dream of sin, is the everlasting security 
predicated upon the eternal purposes of 
God. The steps of the saint shall be 
steady as the walks in the way, for his 



THE OLD PATH. 49 

feet are upon the everlasting rock of 
ages, and his brow is kissed by a cloud- 
less sky. 

Human birth is used to illustrate the 
relationship between God and his chil- 
dren. This, it will be readily seen, ex- 
presses an unchangeable relationship. My 
son is my son, whether he dies in a 
church or a saloon. The saint may lose 
his life, but he cannot lose his soul. 
One may be born again, but he cannot 
be unborn. It was to those whom he 
had never known, that He said, "de- 
part." 

He who walks in this way, will wish 
others to travel with him in the way. 

The man who is willing to go to 
heaven alone, would be lonely there, pro- 
vided, of course, he should get there. 
The mission spirit should mark those who 
journey to the better land. We should, 
of course, be concerned about our own 
kinsmen, but our concern should not end 
with them. We should begin at Jerusa- 
lem, but should end at the uttermost 
parts of the earth. The conquest of Ken- 
tucky is a laudable undertaking, and, I 



50 THE BAPTIST DEBT Tv> TilE WORLD. 

believe, the God-given task of Kentucky 
Baptists. For, while the sun does shine 
bright on ''my old Kentucky home," it 
will shine brighter by far, when the ''Son 
of Righteousness" shall rise with healing in 
his wings o'er all our hearts and homes. 

It is estimated that there are now 
more than one million unsaved souls in 
our Commonwealth. From mountain and 
plain and river is heard the cry, "Come 
over and help us." "Will we hear the 
cry, or shall we turn a deaf ear to the 
plaintive wail of this mighty host? God 
Almighty forbid. "We have tarried long 
enough, the time is at hand when we 
must " go. " 

And when we have won Kentucky for 
Christ, then shall we seek to win the 
Southland for the Son of God. The 
South, with all its flowery fields and sun- 
lit seas; the South, with all its matchless 
memories, its splendid present and glo- 
rious future, must be saved for Christ and the 



THE OLD PATH. 51 

Baptists. The principle of patriotism, alone, 
should be sufficient to compel us to labor for the 
redemption of our beloved land. We have the 
men and the money, and Almightiness walks 
majestically by our side. The day of destiny is 
at hand; the clock of fate has struck the hour; 
let us to the work, men and women of the 
Master ! 

And when our Sunny South shall sing the 
song of Moses and the Lamb, then shall our motto 
be, ''A Continent for Christ." We will labor, 
give and pray, till this nation shall come into 
its "manifest destiny"; till in all its broad do- 
main Jesus Christ shall be "Lord of all." So 
that when the sun shall rise in the East, his ear- 
list rays shall kiss with blessing a body of bap- 
tized believers; and in all his flight in the 
heavens, he shall never cease to see some church, 
some college, dedicated to the living God, and 
when at last he sinks to rest in the far away 
West, he shall whisper goodnight to some heart, 
some home, consecrated to triumphant truth. 

Nor would we rest even when America has 
sought and found its Maker and its God. We 
would send the Gospel to the regions of darkness 
beyond. Far, far across the wild, wide sea, we 
will seek to send the Gospel to the teeming mill- 
ions who sit in the shadow of death. 



III. 

"CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH." 

"Contend earnestly for the faith once for 
all delivered to the saints." Jude 3. 

"We live in an age in whicli dogmatism is dis- 
counted and contention is counted a curse. 
Many do not seem to know what they believe; 
or to believe what they know. There is a deadly 
indifference concerning the faith, and a lack of 
conviction that is appalling. Owing to a dearth 
of conviction, contention, in spiritual things, is, 
by many, looked upon as a matter of bad taste, 
if not perchance of bad morals. A little thought 
will, we believe, convince anyone that the convic- 
tion and contention are inseparable. On every 
hand we hear that "one church is as good as 
another,'* which in its last analysis means that 
one faith is as good as another. Strangely 
enough, men exercise more care in selecting 
material than spiritual things. The man who is 
seeking a wife will hardly say that one woman 
is as good as another; yet there is no greater 



CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 53 

difference in women than there is in doctrines. 

In this text, we are specifically commanded to 
contend. Nor should this be counted strange, as 
life itself is a ceaseless contention. The babe's 
first and last battle is for breath. The farmer 
must contend with the stubborn glebe, that it 
yield the harvest. The student must contend with 
his books ; the mariner with the sea ; the astrono- 
mer with the stars. The world's biggest battle is 
the battle for bread; which constitutes life's 
chiefest contention, from cradle to the grave. 
Observation and experience teach us that man 
will contend for that which is dear to his heart. 
Hence his contention for honor, life, and liberty. 
Had it not been for the age-long contention of 
Baptists for religious liberty, the world would 
yet be bound in the chains of ecclesiastical 
slavery. Freedom of the soul is the tribute of a 
constant and costly contention. "Pilgrim's 
Progress" was bom out of a cruel contention. 
No ship can run out of a storm, it must contend 
with the wild waves if it hopes for a haven at 
last. 

"Must I be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease, 
While others fought to win the prize, 
And sailed through bloody seas? 



54 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

"'Sure I must fight if I would reign; 

Increase my courage, Lord; 
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain» 

Supported by Thy word." 

Our contention in this connection is limited 
to ' ' The Faith. " It is well just here to maintain 
the distinction between faith and ^'The Faith." 
In most of the instances in which the word faith 
occurs, in the New Testament, it has reference 
to a subjective saving possession. In this general 
sense, every saved person possesses faith. ''The 
Faith," as used in our text, is objective, and has 
distinct reference to a correlated system of 
Scriptural teaching. That it is "The Faith," 
and not ''faith," which is referred to, is clearly 
determined by the use of the definite article. 
Without doubt, many have faith, and are there- 
fore saved, and yet are not in the "once having 
been delivered faith." 

It is our duty to contend for the truth, the 
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It is 
well, too, for us to bear in mind that there is 
only one way to tell the truth. There are many 
ways to tell a falsehood, but only one way to tell 
the truth. Truth is absolute and indivisible. For 
example, there is "one Lord, one faith and one 
baptism," and until the New Testament ceases 
to be the standard of faith and practice, there 



CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 55 

can be only one Lord, one faith and one baptism. 
It is as reasonable to assert that there are two 
Gods, as to affirm that there are two baptisms. 
No statement can be counted true that contains 
a particle of falsehood. We might as well say, 
that an excellent pie contains only one fly — one 
drop of iodine will discolor many times its 
weight of water. The metes and bounds of 
truth are fixed and unchangeable. Facts are 
kaleidoscopic, but truth is as unchangeable as 
the God frpm whom it comes. A fact of today 
may be a falsehood tomorrow; but truth is the 
same, yesterday, today, and forever. 

The disposition nowadays is to compromise 
the truth rather than contend for it. It is pro- 
posed to unite the various denominations with 
their widely differing doctrines by a process of 
compromise and cancellation. To do this, the 
truth must be tortured and Christ crucified in 
the house of His friends. This for the simple 
reason that it is easier to martyr the truth than 
to be a martyr for the sake of tiiith. We are not 
commanded to compromise, but to contend for 
the truth. Better, a thousand times, that a man 
compromise his own honor, than to compromise 
God's truth. We have no right to be liberal, 
with that which belongs to another. The man 
who is liberal with my pocketbook is a thief, and 



56 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

he who is liberal with God's Book, is a traitor to 
truth. 

Regarding the question of church union by 
compromise, it may not be amiss to say that 
there has been more falsifying about it in the 
pulpit than probably about any other subject. 
After all the spectacular speechifying about it, 
thus far no denomination has specified a single 
doctrine it is willing to surrender for the sake 
of church union. "While other denominations are 
coquetting in this connection, let Baptists con- 
tinue to contend for the faith once for all deliv- 
ered to the saints. "Well may we sing : 

"Like a mighty army, 

Moves the Church of God; 
Brothers, we are treading 

Where the saints have trod; 
We are not divided, 

All one body we, 
One in hope and doctrine, 

One in charity. 

"Crowns and thrones may perish, 

Kingdoms rise and wane 
But the church of Jesus 

Constant will remain; 
Gates of hell can never 

'Gainst that church prevail; 
We have Christ's own promise, 

And that cannot fail." 



CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 57 

Not only are we commanded to contend, and" 
to contend for tlie faith, but to contend for ' ' the 
faith that has been delivered to the saints.'* 
We are, by the terms of this trust, named as 
trustees of "The Faith". As trustees of the 
truth, we shall be required to render a strict 
account of our trusteeship. This faith has been 
committed to us that we preserve it in its purity, 
and contend for it throughout the whole world. 
It is not our business to apologize for, revise or 
reconstruct this faith, but to contend for it, as 
it has been delivered to us. The only liberty al- 
lowed, is the liberty to contend for the delivered 
faith ; the only latitude, to contend for it as de- 
livered. We had the legal right to decline the 
trust; but having accepted it, we are in honor 
bound to administer it according to the terms of 
the trust. 

To faithfully discharge this trust will not 
always be pleasant, or apparently profitable. We 
cannot, however, afford to purchase popularity 
at the staggering price of truth. When we are 
tempted to ' ' Come down from the Cross, ' ' let us 
remember that it is better to please God than 
men. If we are faithful unto death (not unto 
success) , we shall receive a crown of life. Happy, 
then, the man who in that day for which all days 
were made, shall be able to say : ' * I have fought 



58 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous judge, shall give me at that day : and 
not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
his appearing." 

Not only has this faith been delivered to us, 
but ' ' once for all" delivered to us. If this means 
anything, it means that ''The Faith" is a final- 
ity. In the very nature of the case, there can, 
therefore, never be any such thing as a new 
faith. A faith that is not approximately two 
thousand years old, is too young to meet the re- 
quirements of "The Faith". The Bible consti- 
tutes the sum total of revealed truth, and, "If 
any man shall add unto these things, God shall 
add unto him the plagues that are written in this 
book : And if any man shall take away from the 
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall 
take away his part out of the book of life, and 
out of the holy city, and from the things which 
are written in this book. ' ' 

The pitiful efforts to "reform" "the faith," 
are not only foolish, but sinful. The truth is 
God-given, and therefore perfect. Political and 
social reforms may be needed and timely, but a 
reformation of the faith is a logical and spiritual 
impossibility 



CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 59 

The pitiful efforts to conform the faith to 
the "Spirit of the times" is the contemptible 
task of the ecclesiastical charlatan. ' ' The faith ' ' 
was completed, signed, sealed and delivered, and 
hence not subject to amendment or revision of 
any kind or character. It is our Christ-com- 
missioned task to bring the world back to "The 
Faith," and not "The Faith" up to the world. 
Nations may rise and fall ; civilizations may come 
and go, and the winds of countless centuries 
sweep in desolation o'er a wrecked and ruined 
world, but the once delivered faith, fresh with 
the dews of the morning, and throbbing with the 
deathless dynamics of a God-given life, shall 
move majestically on, conquering and to con- 
quer, until it shall cover the world as the waters 
cover the seal 



IV. 

**THE FINAL PRESERVATION OF 
THE SAINTS." 



"Who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ?" Romans 8:35. 

There are but two great systems of theology ; 
the one was given by God, the other manufac- 
tured by man. There are but two proposed 
plans of salvation ; one by grace, the other by a 
curious combination of grace and works. As we 
shall see later, salvation by grace implies final 
preservation, while salvation by works demands 
the doctrine of apostasy. There are but two de- 
nominations, that believe God saves and keeps, 
and naturally and logically, these are the only 
two that believe in salvation by grace. Unfortu- 
nately, one of these denominations vitiates its 
theory of grace by its practice of infant baptism. 

That there may be no possible misunderstand- 
ing, it is well that the doctrine be stated as it is 
taught in the Bible and believed by Baptists. 



THE FINAL PRESERVATION OP THE SAINTS. 61 

This doctrine does not mean that the saints will 
not sin. As long as we are in this world, we will 
sin. The history of mankind fails to furnish an 
example of a sinless man. Observation and ex- 
perience alike teach that we are all sinners, but, 
thank God, many of us sinners are saved by 
grace. It is well to define the difference between 
backsliding and apostasy. Baptists believe in 
backsliding, and, unfortunately, like others, 
sometimes practice it. And though we back- 
slide, we have access to Him who has promised 
to heal all our backsliding. Just how far a 
Christian may backslide, has never been deter- 
mined, though we do know he will never go far 
enough to cease to be a child of God. Apropos 
the story of the man who said to Mr. Spurgeon, 
that if he believed he could never be lost, he 
would take his fill of sin. Mr. Spurgeon promptly 
replied with the question, ''How much sin does 
it take to fill a Christian?" 

Baptists do hold and teach that if one is born 
of God, such a one will die a child of God. That 
if one has repented towards God and trusted in 
Jesus Christ, such a one, in spite of his sins, few 
or many, is saved for time and eternity. The 
relation of parent and child cannot be changed 
by the conduct of the child. My son is my son, 
whether he dies in a church house or a barroom. 



62 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

The world, the flesh and the devil cannot un- 
born a child. In other words, Baptists believe 
that when Christ saves a man, he is saved, and 
not savable, and that Christ is not only mighty 
to save, but mighty to keep. 

Let us note some of the Scriptures that are 
usually relied upon to prove apostasy. Fore- 
most of these is Hebrews 6 :4-6 : ' ' For it is im- 
possible for those who were once enlightened, 
and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were 
made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have 
tasted of the good word of God, and the powers 
of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to 
renew them again unto repentance ; seeing they 
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and 
put Him to an open shame." 

First of all, the statement is clearly made 
that '4f they shall fall away" it is impossible 
to renew them unto repentance. The author, 
who was, as we believe, the Apostle Paul, goes 
further and states specifically, why if anyone 
should fall away, he would be lost, and lost ever- 
lastingly. Of such it is said, ''they crucify to 
themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to 
an open shame." It will be conceded that the 
only hope of salvation, either as a temporary or 
a permanent possession, is the shed blood of 
Christ. If, therefore, this blood has been tried 



THE FIKAL PKESERVATION OF THE SAINTS. 63 

and failed, there remainetli no further atone- 
ment for sin. Whatever else these passages may 
be supposed to teach, it must be granted they 
teach the impossibility of salvation for the apos- 
tate. Even the avowed advocates of apostasy 
have realized this, and no longer offer these 
passages in support of their tantalizing theory. 

It will be observed the author states a fact 
concerning a certain condition, though he does 
not state the probability or possibility of such 
a condition. As the lawyers would say, he made 
a hypothetical case, and one which should serve 
as a warning and an exhortation. Paul 's conclu- 
sion was the inevitable result of his premises, but 
the fallacy lies in the fact that his conclusion is 
the result of impossible premises. 

It is generally conceded that the letter to the 
Hebrews is of Pauline authorship. If this be 
true, and if it is further true that he teaches 
apostasy in this letter, it is also true that he flatly 
contradicts his teachings as found in his epistle 
to the church at Rome. If the closing verses of 
the eighth chapter of Romans do not teach the 
final preservation of the saints, then it is impos- 
sible to express this doctrine in the language of 
earth. 

That Paul 's proposition grew out of a suppo- 
sition, is clearly shown in the ninth verse : *'But, 



64 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, 
and things that accompany salvation, though we 
thus speak. ' ' The ' ' better things ' ' here refers to 
something better than the deadly doctrine of 
apostasy, and something that "accompanies sal- 
vation." He suggests the impossibility of this 
hypothesis by *'the things that accompany salva- 
tion". One of the things that accompany salva- 
tion is, once in grace, always in grace. 

That his readers might entertain no doubt as 
to the certainty of their salvation, he tells them 
in verses seventeen and eighteen, ''"Wherein God, 
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs 
of promise, the immutability of His counsel, in- 
terposed with an oath, that by two immutable 
things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, 
we may have a strong encouragement, who have 
fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before 
us." In the following verse, the inspired author 
refers to this hope as ''an anchor of the soul, a 
hope both sure and steadfast, and entering into 
that which is within the veil." 

It will be observed that this **hope" is said 
to be "sure and steadfast.'* If it is sure and 
steadfast, it must be unfailing and incapable of 
loss. The very words preclude the idea of apos- 
tasy — God's oath is coupled with the character 
of this hope. In other words, this hope is as sure 



THE FINAL PRESERVATION OP THE SAINTS. 65 

as the fact that God will keep His oath, and 
God's oath must be broken before this hope fails, 
and any one of His children lost. We can hardly 
see how it would be possible to make a stronger 
statement of God 's promise to keep His children 
than is made in these closing verses, and these 
verses are inseparably connected with verses four 
and six. If, then, it is true, as stated, that God's 
counsel is immutable; and if it is further true 
that it is impossible for God to lie, it is neces- 
sarily true that a child of God can never be lost. 
Until God 's counsel shall come to naught ; until 
His promises become mutable ; until His oath is 
broken, and it becomes possible for God to lie, 
His children are safe and secure for time and 
eternity. 

Much ado is made of the fact that Paul said 
of the Galatians, ''Ye are fallen from grace." 
This, too, in spite of the fact that no reputable 
scholar or commentator, dead or living, ever 
claimed that this passage had any reference to 
apostasy. In the epistle to the Galatians, Paul 
was combating Jewish customs for the believers, 
and informing them that if they were to try to 
keep the law, they had fallen from a dispensa- 
tion of grace. 

The case of the foolish virgins is sometimes 
cited to prove apostasy. A careful reading of 



66 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

the story will readily convince an impartial 
mind that there is no reference whatever to pres- 
ervation or apostasy. The application of the 
parable is made in the thirteenth verse : "Watch, 
therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the 
hour wherein the son of man cometh." The 
lesson taught is clearly that of watchfulness, and 
especially in connection with the coming of 
Christ. 

Judas has sometimes been cited as an example 
of apostasy. Judas was one of the twelve, and 
did lose his apostleship ; but not his religion, as 
he never had any to lose. He was not a child of 
God, but ''the son of perdition.'' Christ says, 
' ' Did I not choose you the twelve, and one of you 
is a devil?" The implication is that he was a 
devil when chosen. There is no difficulty in 
proving that a devil goes to the Devil, but this is 
far from establishing the fact that a Christian 
may become a devil. Surely, one must be hard- 
pressed for an example of apostasy to have re- 
course to Judas Iscariot. Apropos the story of 
the debate on this subject between Brother 
Murrell, one of our mountain missionaries, with 
a brother missionary. His competitor cited the 
foolish virgins, the sow returned to her wallow, 
and the dog that returned to his vomit. In re- 
plying, Brother Murrell said: ** Brethren, you 



THE FINAL PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS. 67 

will please take notice of the character of wit- 
nesses introduced by my brother to prove apos- 
tasy. He has offered in evidence a hog, a dog 
and five fools." The effect may better be de- 
clared, than described. 

It is, to say the least, significant that none of 
the advocates of apostasy have ever beep able to 
demonstrate their doctrine by an exam- 
ple. It would seem nothing but fair that 
those who contend for this doctrine should fur- 
nish some samples of their faith. I have been 
young, and now growing old, yet, in all truth, I 
can say that I have never yet seen one who was 
once assured of his salvation, and who after- 
wards renounced all hope in Christ. On many 
public occasions, I have offered a reward of ten 
dollars to anyone, known as truthful, who would 
make an affidavit that he was once saved and 
knew it, and afterwards lost and knew it. This 
offer has been made to certainly not less than 
fifty thousand people, yet the reward has never 
been claimed. The nearest approach to a claim 
for this reward was on this wise: Some years 
since, a brother who heard us offer this reward, 
took us several miles in the country to show us 
a genuine case of apostasy. We were led to an 
humble home, and introduced to a kindly-faced 
woman, ^vhe was requested by our brother to 



68 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

tell her experience of falling from grace. With- 
out protest, we permitted him to lead his witness. 
In brief and pathetic words, she told how she 
once loved the Lord, and how she later fell from 
grace. We then wrote, in substance, the follow- 
ing statement: 

''I hereby certify that I was once saved and 
knew it, and that I now have no hope of heaven. ' ' 

We shall never'f orget how the good sister ad- 
justed her glasses and began reading. When she 
reached the words, "no hope of heaven, '^ she 
almost shouted, *' Thank God, I have a little 
hope." Evermore there is a spark in the ashes, 
that the Spirit will fan to living flame. 

We offer here only a few of the many 
passages that teach in unmistakable terms, the 
security of the saints. Deut. 33 :27 : " The eternal 
God is thy refuge, and underneath are the ever- 
lasting arms : and he shall thrust out the enemy 
from before thee; and shall say. Destroy them." 
''But the path of the just is as the shining light, 
that shineth more and more unto the perfect 
day." Prov. 4:18. *'But whosoever drink- 
eth of the water that I shall give him shall 
never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him 
shall be in him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." John 4:14: *'And I give unto 
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, 



THE PINAL PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS. 69 

neither shall any man pluck them out of my 
hand." John 10:28: "A bruised reed shall he 
not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, 
till he send forth judgment unto victory." Matt. 
12 :20. ' ^ . Teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world. ' ' 
Matt. 28:20: '' Though he fall, he shall not be 
utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdest him 
with his hand." Psalms 37:24. 

There is a vast difference in getting religion, 
and having religion get you. It is the difference 
of the little child holding father's hand, and the 
father holding the child 's hand. One is the hold 
of a human being, the other the grasp of God. 

This doctrine is predicated, first of all, upon 
the purposes of God. In the eternal councils of 
God, before the morning stars sang together or 
the sons of God shouted together for joy, God 
decreed salvation to His Elect. Of His own sov- 
ereign mercy, without any merit on the part of 
man, He chose us in Christ Jesus before the 
foundation of the world. "According as he hath 
chosen us in him, before the foundation of the 
world, that we should be holy and without 
blame before him in love : Having predestinated 
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ 
to himself, according to the good pleasure of 



70 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

his will.'* Eph. 1 :4, 5. As the architect sees the 
building before it is erected, as the sculptor the 
statue in the stone, so he saw and loved us, ere 
we knew Him. 

To those who are turned away at the last day, 
He will say, "I never knew you." Christ will 
never say, ''Depart,*' to anyone he has ever 
known. 

The trusted eagle may seem at home, for a 
season, with the fowls of the barnyard, but when 
the flash of lightning is seen, and the crash of 
thunder is heard, he is up and away to his home 
on high. 

This precious doctrine is also founded on the 
power of God. The only question concerning 
the security is, has God the power to protect and 
keep His own children? The natural father is 
willing, though he may not be able to preserve 
the life of his child. In its last analysis, the 
question is, which has the greater power, God or 
the Devil ? The Devil is mighty, but God is Al- 
mighty. His power is supreme over death, hell 
and the grave. Not only is Christ mighty to 
save, but He is mighty to keep. He binds us 
with bands that time nor death can ever sever — 

"The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, 
I will not, I will not desert to his foes; 



THE PINAL PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS. 71 

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, 
I'll never, no, never, no, never, forsake." 

This great doctrine grows out of tlie plan of 
salvation by grace. If one is saved by grace, 
very naturally he will be kept through riches of 
grace. If one is saved by grace, he is not saved 
by works; for if of works, it is no more of 
grace. Granted we are saved by good works ; 
it follows, that we are damned by bad ones. 
Hence it is, that all churches, which make 
good works a part of the plan of salvation, must 
and do believe in apostasy. This is not an acci- 
dent, but the inevitable conclusion of a doctrinal 
premise. If my religion is my work, I will lose 
it ; if it is God 's work, He will keep it. If a child 
of God is lost, a part of God's work is destroyed, 
and something of His nature lost. 

It will be admitted, that in order to get a 
child of God, the Devil must overcome the blood 
of Christ. Obviously, it will take the same power 
to overcome the blood of Christ in every instance 
as in any given instance. In other words, if 
Satan can get one child of God, he can get every 
child of God. If he can get every child of God, 
yet fails to get some of them, those he fails to 
get, are saved by the grace of Satan, and not by 
the grace of God. 



72 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Let me bring to you tlie glad assurance that 
if you have ever been redeemed by His blood, 
your feet are on the rock, whose base rests upon 
the foundations of eternal truth, and whose 
summit is kissed by a cloudless sky. 

I can almost hear the old giant of grace as he 
answers his own question: ^'Who shall separate 
us from the love of Christ?'* He looks up, far 
up beyond the shining sun and silent stars, and 
asks, ''Shall heights He shakes his glory- 
crowned head and says, ' ' Nor height. ' ' He then 
gazes down, deep down into the gloom of the 
grave, and asks, ''Can death?" With infinite as- 
surance he exclaims, "Nor depth." Then with 
rapt and parting vision, as all things pass in 
solemn review, he shouts in everlasting triumph, 
* ' Nor any other creature shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ 
our Lord. ' ' 



y. 



CHARACTEllISTICS OF A SCRIPTURAL 
CHURCH. 

"On this Rock I will build my church 
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail 
against it." Matt. 16:18. 

For present purposes, the word church in 
this connection will be construed as referring to 
local visible bodies of baptized believers, and the 
treatment of the subject will be based upon this 
assumption. If there be any other sort of 
church than that of the visible congregation, 
revelation and investigation have alike failed to 
locate its whereabouts, or define its functions. 
God has never given it a mission, or man put it 
into commission. Such an inconceivable, in- 
tangible, invisible concern as the imaginary in- 
visible church has never been known to convert 
anybody, to set forth the Lord's Supper, or to 
perform any of the functions of an actual 
church, or to do any sort of business on the 
arena earth, in the history of all time. There- 



74 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

fore, the speaker proposes to deal with that with 
which we have to do — facts, not fancies, men, 
not myths; women, not words. 

The primarj^ characteristic of a Scriptural 
church is, that it must be of divine origin. It 
will be admitted that churches are, or ought to 
be, divine institutions. If they are divine insti- 
tutions, they must be of divine origin, for no 
stream can rise higher than its source. To be 
of divine origin, they must come from God, "for 
other foundation can no man lay than that is 
laid, which is Jesus Christ." That which is 
born of earth is earthy, and that which is born 
of Heaven is Heavenly. Like begets like, on 
earth or in Heaven, so far as we are informed. 
If, then, it be a fact that a church must be of 
divine origin, and to be of divine origin must 
have been instituted by Jesus Christ, it neces- 
sarily follows that no man has, or can have, a 
right to start a church, unless especially com- 
missioned by Christ. Should any one claim this 
authority, it would be necessary to attest his au- 
thority by infallible signs and miracles, thus 
demonstrating the divinity of his mission, by 
Apostolic power and precedent. So generally 
has this been conceded, that no man of note has 
ever claimed the right to start a church. Martin 
Luther claimed only the mission of a reformer, 



CHAEACTEEISTICS OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 75 

and never, at any time, the authority to origi- 
nate a church. John Calvin admitted his work 
to be that of reformation, and nowhere sets forth 
the claim to start a church. John Wesley not 
only disclaimed any intention of forming a 
church, but died a member in full fellowship of 
the Church of England. Realizing his limita- 
tions in this connection, he strenuously resisted 
the separation of the Methodist societies from 
the Church of England. Alexander Campbell 
asserted that his mission was to reform the 
Baptist churches, probably not realizing the 
more than Herculean task of reforming the 
truth. 

It is likewise worthy of note that the name 
of the founder still clings to nearly all the 
churches of human origin. For example, were I 
to start an independent movement and assume 
to call it a church, it would rightly be known 
as ''Porter's church'', but could not truly be 
called a Church of Christ. There are only three 
Christian bodies who claim to have been insti- 
tuted by Christ or the Apostles — the Roman 
Catholic, Episcopal, and many Baptists. The 
origin of the Roman Hierarchy is too well es- 
tablished by secular as well as sectarian history, 
to be seriously considered in this connection. 
The beginning of the Church of England (Epi»- 



76 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

copal) during the life, and bv the authority ol 
Henry YIII., is well known and freely admitted 
by all accredited historians, being the verified 
and irreversible verdict of history. 

It is comparatively an easy task, with a 
single exception, to ascertain the approximate 
origin of each of the various denominations; 
the historian, however, has not yet arisen who 
is able to find the beginning of Baptist Churches 
this side of the Apostolic period. If, then, the 
human origin of all other churches can be 
clearl}' established, it makes a strong case in 
favor of that church whose human origin cannot 
be established. Mosheim says of the origin of 
Baptist Churches : ' ' They are lost in the remote 
ages of antiquity." Dr. Dumont, who was ap- 
pointed by the King of Holland to ascertain the 
origin of the Baptists, reported, "That the 
Baptists may be considered the only Christian 
community which has stood since the days of 
the Apostles, and has preserved pure the doc- 
trines of the Gospel through all the ages." Sir 
Isaac Xewton declares. "That the Baptists are 
the only body of Christians that have never sym- 
bolized with the Church of Rome." Alexander 
Campbell, in his debate with McCalla, aflSrmed, 
"That from the Apostolic age to the present 
time, the sentiments of the Baptists and their 



CHAEACTERISTICS OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 77 

practice of baptism, have had a continual chain 
of advocates, and public monuments of their 
existence in every century can be produced.'* 
The Old Ship of Zion is an old ship, and was 
not launched in the last few centuries. 

The second characteristic of a Scriptural 
church is that it must preach a pure Gospel. 
The Gospel is either pure or impure ; it is abso- 
lute truth or unconditional falsehood. There is 
no such thing as partial truth or purity. It is 
self-contradictory to say that it is the truth 
mixed with a little error. As well say that a 
glass of water is pure with the exception of a 
single drop of poison. A man cannot be truth- 
ful and yet lie occasionally. A falsehood may 
be told in many different ways, but the 
truth has but one version, and that version 
is a finality. This may be called a- narrow 
view of truth, but truth is and must for- 
ever be narrow, for it has its metes and 
bounds and its limitations are fixed and immov- 
able. It is possible that a spiritual Pure Food 
Law would put many a Christian society out of 
business 'as the Pure Food Law has put a 
number of concerns out of commission. 

Nor does truth ever conflict with itself, nor 
can one truth or portion of truth ever contra- 
dict any other portion of truth. It is unthink- 



78 THE B.VPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

able that Christ would call one man to preach 
a certain doctrine and then call another to 
preach a doctrine directly opposed to it, and 
then tell us that ''A house divided against 
itself cannot stand." It is inconceivable thai 
Christ would call one to preach iunuersion, and 
would call another to preach sprinkling; one to 
preach baptism as the answer of a good con- 
science to God, and another to preach baptism 
for the remission of sins. This would nuike 
Christ a contradiction and truth, "confusion 
worse confounded". This is not the sham and 
sentiment of liberalism, but the cold eloquence 
of fearless facts! 

Within this narrow way. whose limitations 
are co-extensive with truth, there is ample r.-om 
for broadest sympathy, limitless love and end- 
less activity. As well might the heavenly bodies 
ask for greater liberty than they have in their 
God-ordained orbits as for the disciples of 
truth to ask for the broadening of its bounds. 

A train has the greatest possible liberty 
while on its narrow track. The current plea 
for greater liberty in preaching and teaching 
is not a plea for real liberty, but for unlimited 
license to disport the vagaries and propagate 
the heresies of one who wishes a support from 
the people he is tn-ing to betray. The old cry 



CHARACTERISTICS OP A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 79 

of ''Give me Liberty, or give me Death," may 
well be changed to read, give some people the 
liberty they crave and the denomination will 
promptly meet its death, A perpetual protest is 
truth's reply to the plea for liberalism. 

Nor can there be any new truth until God 
makes another revelation and adds to the Bible 
another chapter. Truth is as changeless as the 
Christ who gave it. Let me charge you, preach 
the truth, preach it in its purity, preach it in 
its simplicity, and it will yet tell its tale of tri- 
umph, though it be to generations yet unborn. 
Truth unadulterated, truth unterrified, will 
usher in the day of universal redemption! 

"Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again: 
The eternal years of God are hers; 

But Error, wounded, writhes with pain 
And dies among his worshippers." 

Nor can this truth in its perfect purity ever 
make any kind of compromise with error. Be- 
tween truth and error, there is an irreconcilable 
conflict that must continue till the ''Kingdoms 
of this world are become the Kingdoms of our 
Lord and his Christ". The current talk of 
*' Federation" and "Union" is anything but a 
compliment to our convictions of truth. I would 



80 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

more readily talk of merging my family, nation 
or race than I would seriously speak of merging 
my church. Oil and water never have, and 
never will, mix, dreamers and imbeciles to the 
contrary notwithstanding. Such a scheme would 
be possible only by a process of mutual cancel- 
lation and this, to one who believes he holds 
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the 
truth, would be impossible. I have sometimes 
heard it said, ''That I believe we are nearer 
right than anyone else." For my own part, I 
believe we are altogether right and I would 
challenge anyone, especially Baptists, to point 
out a single fallacy or falsehood in Baptist Faith 
or Polity. When I hear the plea made to Bap- 
tists that they come and unite with any other 
church, I am reminded of a great full-rigged 
ship that for years has battled with the tempest, 
riding in triumph the crested wave and surging 
billow; and now as the mighty old ship, with 
sails all set, is nearing in safety the harbor, a 
little fishing smack with a leg-of-mutton sail 
hails her with the salutation, ''Come over and 
join us". I hear the reply of the Captain, 
*' Stand off, you will be swamped by the swell 
from our ship." One thing is as good as an- 
other only with the man who is good for noth- 
ing. It is our mission to preach the untram- 



CHARACTERISTICS OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 81 

meled truth, and undaunted, calmly await the 
victory ! 

The third characteristic of a Scriptural 
church is that it must keep the ordinances blame- 
less, as instituted and observed by Christ and 
His Apostles. These ordinances (two only) are 
baptism and the Lord's Supper. By common 
consent, baptism is obligatory on all believers. 
That there is but one baptism is clearly taught 
in Eph. 4:5 ''One Lord, one faith, one bap- 
tism." Nor will it suffice to say that there 
are two forms of baptism, for baptism is it- 
self a form, and there cannot be two forms of 
a single form. Whatever, then, this baptism is, 
it will be granted by all who hold to the su- 
premacy of the Scriptures, that it cannot be 
changed by any human authority. If then, any 
church or body of believers should, by teaching 
or practice, pervert or vitiate this ordinance, 
such church or society would, if it ever possessed 
it, forfeit, at least, this characteristic of a Scrip- 
tural Church. That this ordinance of baptism 
was, and is, by immersion, is emphatically af- 
firmed by the Baptists, cheerfully admitted by 
nearly all Roman Catholic and Protestant com- 
mentators and reluctantly conceded by the rank 
and file of Christendom. Neither must the form 
or design of this ordinance be perverted. Bap- 



82 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

tism is not a saving ordinance, nor can it ever 
supplement or supplant the blood of Christ, 
which cleanses us from all sin. 

We may thank God that to the great Baptist 
brotherhood, militant and triumphant, has been 
committed the sacred trust of preserving invio- 
late the divine rite of baptism through all the 
ages. 

That the participation of the Lord's Supper 
should be restricted to baptized believers, is a 
closed question in this presence, and will there- 
fore be assumed. Granted then, that the Lord's 
Supper is dependent upon baptism, it neces- 
sarily follows that even a body of believers 
would not have the right to celebrate the one 
without obej'ing the other. The stereotyped 
phrase of '* Close Communion" is not only a 
misnomer, as respects the niceties of speech, but 
meaningless and unwarranted in point of fact. 
The Lord's 'Supper is for all those who have 
complied with the Scriptural terms, and this is 
equally true of salvation from sin. The same 
Scriptural terms that would exclude anyone 
from partaking of the Lord's Supper in a 
Baptist Church, would exclude them from par- 
taking of it in any other place. In other words, 
anyone has as much right to partake of the 
Lord's Supper in my Church, as he has to par- 



CHARACTERISTICS OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH So 

take of it in his own, but unless he has complied 
with the Scriptural terms, he has no right to 
partake in either place. Nor has anyone the 
right to complain of being denied the ordinance 
when that one refuses to comply with the re- 
quirements of the ordinance. It is futile and 
foolish to complain of the logical result of vol- 
untary disobedience. In law, one is estopped 
from taking advantage of his own fraud or neg- 
ligence and the same plea of estoppel should 
hold good in regard to disobedience to spiritual 
things. 

These three characteristics, with what they 
necessarily involve, will decide the right of any 
organization to be called a Scriptural Church 
and prove the final test of a Standing or Falling 
Church. 



VI. 



THE PERPETUITY OF A SCRIPTURAL 
CHURCH. 

It may be well to define what is meant by the 
word perpetuity in this connection. It must 
not be confused with what is commonly known 
as Apostolic Succession. Neither the speaker, 
nor the people for whom he speaks, believe in 
Apostolic Succession. To the contrary, we be- 
lieve that the Apostolic office ended with the 
Apostles, and that they have never had nor ever 
will have successors. But we do believe that 
Baptist churches were instituted by Jesus 
Christ, and that they have had a continuous ex- 
istence ever since and will continue to exist as 
long as time shall last. We do emphatically 
affirm the succession of Baptists, in spite of im- 
prisonment, blood and fire, as witnesses for the 
truth, and that He who hath preserved them, 
will continue to be with them till the end of the 
age. 

We may demonstrate the reasonableness of 
this doctrine by analogy. Strangely enough, the 



THE PERPETUITY OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 85 

people who object to church succession, glory in 
the idea of succession along other lines. For 
example, we are proud of the fact that our race 
is hoary with age and rich with history, and 
that our species extend back to Adam and Eve 
in the garden of Eden. The Jews, with justifi- 
able pride, point to Abraham as their father, 
Moses as their law-giver, and to a synagogue 
with succession throughout the centuries. A 
claim of uninterrupted succession to the days 
of Solomon, magnifies the mission of masonry 
in the eyes of mankind. The followers of 
Zoroaster assert, with unspeakable pride, that 
the fires which were lighted upon their altars 
by Zoroaster, have never for a single moment 
been lost. Many of our people love to know 
that their families go back to the days of the 
Revolution, and some to the days of William 
the Conqueror. "Why, then, should the boast 
of a splendid and unbroken spiritual ancestry 
be despised or counted an unholy thing? 

First of all, we predicate our perpetuity 
upon prophecy. It will be generally conceded 
that in the Old Testament Scriptures, there is 
clearly set forth the setting up of a kingdom, 
and that this kingdom was to be everlasting. 
This is the plain teaching of the following 
passages : ' ' And in the days of these kings, shall 



S6 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which 
shall never be destroyed ; and the kingdom shall 
not be left to other people, but it shall break in 
pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it 
sliall stand forever." Dan. 2:44. "His king- 
dom is an everlasting kingdom, and His domin- 
ion is from generation to generation." Dan. 
4:3. "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
and Thy dominion throughout all generations." 
Ps. 145 :13. 

The cherished and oft expressed hope of 
Israel Avas the final establishment of the Mes- 
sianic kingdom, which kingdom should endure 
throughout all generations. We believe that 
the highest concrete expression and manifesta- 
tion of God's kingdom is to be found in the 
churches of Jesus Christ, and that the kingdom 
of God could not have endured without a con- 
tinuous existence of the churches of Christ. We 
do not believe that the prophecies have perished, 
or the promises of God have failed. A Gibbon 
may write of the *' Decline and Fall of the 
Koman Empire," but no historian will ever rise 
to write of the fall of God's kingdom among 
the children of men! A church may die, but 
the churches live; God may remove the candle- 
stick, but He does not put out the light. The 
leaves of the forest may fall with the coming 



THE PERPETUITY OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 87 

autumn, but the great forests wave on in the 
winds of the centuries. The stone that was cut 
out of the mountain, without hands, shall break 
to pieces all other stones, but itself shall not be 
broken. Napoleon, on the eve of the battle of 
the Pyramids, gazing upon them in their solemn 
grandeur, said to the army: "Men of France, 
from yonder heights forty centuries look down 
upon you". As an inspiration to continued 
faithfulness, I would say to-day to all our 
churches, "Two thousand years of heroic history 
and tragic struggles attest the truth of the 
promises of God to our people." 

"We further affirm the succession of Baptist 
churches, from the express promise of Christ. 
The language of our text, "Upon this rock I 
will build my church, and the gates of Hades 
shall not prevail against it," teaches as clearly 
and plainly as it is possible to express a fact in 
human speech that He would build a church, 
and that the gates of Hades should not prevail 
against it. The only question then is, "Has the 
promise of Christ failed of fulfillment?" But 
the question will be asked, "Were these 
churches, to which Christ promised perpetuity, 
Baptist churches?" In order to prove that the 
church He instituted was a Baptist church, it 
will not be necessary to demonstrate by history 



88 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

the continuous existence of Baptist churches. 

This, indeed, would be difficult to do, as history 
was for a time in the hands of our enemies, and 
many of our people in their prisons. It may be 
asserted, hovrever, with mathematical certainty, 
that there is not a single century that does not 
afford evidence of the existence of a people hold- 
ing doctrines that now differentiate and distin- 
guish us as a peculiar people. Granted, then, 
that there is a church which has had continuous 
existence, we may, by a process of cancellation, 
ascertain this church. With the exception of 
the Baptist churches, it is a comparatively easy 
task to ascertain the year in history, when each 
of the various denominations had their 
origin. It may be announced as the incontro- 
vertible verdict of history that each of them had 
its origin several centuries this side of the 
Apostolic period. In fact, nearly all of the de- 
nominations frankly admit their human origin. 
In truth, the only denomination, apart from the 
Baptists, that has even the semblance of claim 
to any early origin is the Roman Catholic, and 
this church, by the common consent of Protest- 
ant Christendom, has neither the birth-marks, 
nor ear-marks of a Scriptural church. Their 
present faith and policy, when tried by New 
Testament truth, conclusively show the lack of 



THE PERPETUITY OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 89 

Scriptural origin or teaching. Nor do they 
need, in accordance with their faith, any Script- 
ural origin, for, with an infallible pope and 
council, they have the right to change, subtract, 
or supplement any portion of Scripture, or any 
doctrine of the church. If, then, it be true that 
Christ did start a church, and the church He 
started has had a continuous existence; if it be 
further true that the human origin of all other 
denominations can be proven and the origin of 
Baptist churches cannot be proven, then it must 
follow that the Baptist churches were instituted 
by Christ, and have enjoyed the unbroken ex- 
istence promised them by the Head of the 
churches. 

As has been said: ''"We must either suppose 
that there -has been a Christian people existing 
in every age from the apostolic to the present, 
characterized by the same doctrines and prac- 
tice, or, that there were periods in the interven- 
ing history when apostolic faith and practice 
had absolutely no representative on the face of 
the earth." Are we prepared to take the latter 
alternative? Have there been such hiatuses in 
the history of Christianity? No church, no 
Christian people to uphold the standard of a 
pure gospel, and bear witness to the truth as 
it is in Jesus amid a perverse and crooked gen- 



90 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

eration? What, then, becomes of the Saviour's 
promise? Keasoning a priori, we must infer, 
I think, that there must be a continuous line of 
witnesses for the truth, not only as individuals, 
but as organized bodies, keeping the faith as 
originally delivered to the saints, and practicing 
the ordinances as instituted by the Head. It 
cannot then be 'arrogant' — ^nay, it is a duty we 
owe to the truth — to go into a careful and 
thorough investigation of historical sources to 
find out, if possible, such an uninterrupted line 
of witnesses. "We beg leave to ask if the con- 
tinuous line of witnesses from the Apostles to 
the Reformation were not Baptists, what 
were they? Surely no one of the present sects, 
having no earlier origin than the Eeformation, 
will claim them. Were they, then, Latins, 
Greeks, or Baptists? Nor is this doctrine of the 
succession of Baptists a new one to our people. 
The writers of other days abound in reference 
to this cherished tenet. Not a few historians, 
unfriendly to our faith, have conceded the truth 
of our historical contention. Indeed, as we see 
it, our exclusive claim to be the only existing 
New Testament churches, must stand or fall 
with our claim to perpetuity. 

Dr. James P. Boyce, who was the founder of 
our Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 



THE PERPETUITY OP A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 91 

was a staunch advocate of this doctrine. But 
let his faith in this connection be determined 
by his own words, for, "though dead, he yet 
speaketh." I quote from ''Memoir of James 
P. Boyce, ' ' by John a Broadus : 

"The Baptists in the past have been entirely 
too indifferent to the position they thus occupy. 
They have depended too much upon the known 
strength of their principles, and the ease with 
which from scripture they could defend them. 
They have therefore neglected many of those 
means which extensive learning affords and 
which have been used to great advantage in sup- 
port of other opinions. It is needless to say, 
gentlemen, that we can no longer consent to oc- 
cupy this position. We owe a change to our- 
selves — as Christians, bound to. show an ade- 
quate reason for the difference between us and 
others; as men of even moderate scholarship, 
that it may appear that we have not made the 
gross error in philology and criticism which we 
must have made if we be not right; as the suc- 
cessors of a glorious spiritual ancestry, illus- 
trated by heroic martyrdom, by the profession of 
noble principles, by the maintenance of true 
doctrines; as the Church of Christ, which He 
has ever preserved as the witness for the truth, 
by which He has illustrated His wonderful 



92 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

ways, and' shown that his promises are sure and 
steadfast. Nay, we owe it to Christ himself, 
whose truth we hold so distinctively as to sep- 
arate us from all others of His believing people ; 
to whom we look confidently to make these prin- 
ciples triumphant; for whose sake, on their ac- 
count, men have been ever found among us will- 
ing to submit to banishment, imprisonment, or 
martyrdom; and for whose sake, in defense of 
the same truth, we are willing now to bear the 
scorn and reproach, not of the world only, but 
even of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ." 
— Memoir, James P. Boyce, pp. 136, 137. 

Dr. Broadus, in his comment on the text of 
this discourse, says: ''It most naturally means, 
according to the Hebrew uses, that the gates of 
Hades shall not swallow up the church. All 
earthly things go down through those dread 
gates, but Christ's Church, for which He gave 
Himself, will never cease to exist." An over- 
weening desire to be called liberal, upon the 
part of some of our broad brethren, has caused 
them to cease to believe in, or contend for, this 
time-honored and Scriptural doctrine, and even 
to designate as "land-markers" those who do 
hold to the doctrine. Be it so, as we are still 
obeying Scripture, ** remove not the ancient 
landmarks". 



THE PERPETUITY OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 93 

* ' There is reason to think that in the middle 
of the twelfth century, congregations of Wal- 
denses Baptists were gathered in Switzerland 
and France, under the name of Apostolici; for, 
in the year 1147, we find Bernard, abbot of 
Clairvaux, complaining against the Earl of St. 
Gyles for favoring one of their noted teachers, 
named -Henry, who is charged with 'hindering 
infants from the life of Christ, the grace of bap- 
tism being denied them'." — (Mosheim, Cen. 12, 
Part II., chaps. 5, 8.) 

*'Zwinglius, the celebrated Swiss Reformer, 
who was contemporary with Luther, Muncer, 
and Stork: 'Is Anabaptism a novelty? Did it 
spring up in a day ? The institution of Anabap- 
tism is no novelty, but for one thousand and 
three hundred years has caused great disturb- 
ance in the church, and has acquired such a 
strength that the attempt in this age to contend 
with it appeared futile for a time.' This carries 
our history back to A. D. 225." — (Introduction 
to Orchard's History.) 

H. Bullinger invariably identifies the Donat- 
ists with the Anabaptists, or, as he styles them, 
''Baptists". *'They are," continues he, "sim- 
ilar in every particular to the old Baptists." 

Bishop Bossuet, the great Catholic contro- 
versialist, complaining of Calvin's party for 



94 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

claiming apostolical succession through the Wal- 
denses, observes: '^You adopt Henry and Peter 
Bruis among your predecessors, but both of 
them, everybody knows, were Anabaptists. ' ' 

But in the Syro-Babylonian desert, off the 
line of the church's main advance, primitive 
forms of Christianity, perhaps also of Esscnism, 
still survived which the course of church history 
had left untouched. To these belong, on the one 
hand, Sabians (Baptists) ; on the other, the 
numerous Anchorets." (Op. 547, IX. Edition 
Ency. Brit., by Eev. F. W. Gotch, LL.D.) 

According to this high and disinterested au- 
thority, Baptists can be traced to 618 A. D. The 
overwhelming presumption is that a denomina- 
tion whose history extends to this remote date 
must seek its origin at the original source of the 
churches. 

Father Gretzer, who edited Sacco's works in 
1613, on the margin opposite the account of the 
Waldenses' way of teaching, has this striking 
statement : ' ' This is a true practice of the here- 
tics of our age, particularly of the Anabaptists.'* 
There are a few of the Baptists of the present 
day, it is to be hoped, who would blush to own 
an alliance with either the old Waldensian 
preachers, 6r the heretical Baptists referred to 
by this father of the Catholic church, at least 



THE PERPETUITY OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 95 

in this part of their conduct; and, indeed, it 
would be well if all our missionaries and private 
Christians of the present day were as conversant 
with the Word of God as the Waldenses, even in 
that dark age appear, from the testimony of 
their enemies, to have been." — Jones' Church 
History, p. 352. 

Limborch, Professor of Divinity in the Uni- 
versity of Amsterdam, in 1670, who wrote a 
history of the Inquisition, in comparing the 
Waldenses with the Christians of his own times, 
says : ^ ' To speak honestly of what I think of all 
the modern sects of Christians, the Dutch Bap- 
tists more resemble both the Albigenses and 
Waldenses, but particularly the latter." 

We glory in the fact that Baptist churches 
were born of the divine purpose, and were fash- 
ioned by divine hands, and that neither death 
nor hell shall ever prevail against them. As 
long as the tide shall ebb and flow, as long as 
the rivers shall run to the sea, as long as the 
stars shall shine in their glory, so long shall 
Baptist churches continue on the earth. 

The ordinance of the Lord's Supper likewise 
implies the perpetuity of the churches. That 
the Lord's Supper is a church ordinance, is a 
closed question, at least in this presence. Paul, 
in his letter to the Church at Corinth, says: 



96 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

*'For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this 
cup ye do show forth the Lord's death till He 
come." I. Cor. 11:26. This passage teaches not 
only the design of the Supper, but emphatically 
teaches that this Supper shall continue to be ob- 
served till He come again. 

Being a church ordinance, it would mani- 
festly be impossible to observe it without a 
church. Therefore, in affirming the continued 
setting forth of the Supper, the Bible affirms 
the continuance of the church. 

The doctrine, too, of the Final Preservation 
of the saints corroborates the doctrine of 
church perpetuity. If Christ has promised, and 
is able to keep one individual, is He not also 
able to keep a number of individuals, and if a 
number, why not a church, which is composed 
of individuals? If He preserves the parts, He 
must preserve the whole. 

The most glorious page in human history, 
though stained with tears and blotted with blood, 
is the page that tells of our struggles throughout 
the centuries. As I have stood in the darkness 
of the catacombs of Rome, I have seen again my 
fathers worshipping God in their caverns, 
among the dead. As I have crossed the ever- 
lasting Alps and gazed at the ceaseless snow, I 
have thought of the blood of my people that has 



THE PERPETUITY OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH 97 

stained it in other times; and, touched to tears, 
I have bowed and thanked God for such a spir- 
itual ancestry, and for the Heaven-born heritage 
which they have bequeathed to the Baptists of 
this generation. 

That we may prove worthy of it, is my plea 
and my prayer, for Christ's sake! Amen! 



VII. 

RESTRICTED COMMUNION. 

*'This do in remembrance of me." Luke 22:19. 

The speaker is well aware that this subject 
has never been specially popular with the preju- 
diced, unreasonable, or unregenerate man. Nor 
should this be counted surprising, in view of the 
exclusive and uncompromising demands of the 
doctrine. The subject permits of only two pos- 
sible views — the Scriptural and the sentimental. 
One of these adapts the ordinance to the Chris- 
tian, the other adapts the Christian to the ordi- 
nance. As a matter of fact, all denominations 
believe in restricted communion, but only Bap- 
tists practice it according to the Scriptures. 

It is true that restricted communion was not 
an issue in New Testament times, as all of the 
churches then in existence professed, at least, to 
be of the same faith and order. The question 
of communion, or comity, between Baptists and 
othei denominations could not have arisen, as 



RESTEICTED COMMUNION 99 

no other denomination, save the Baptists, had 
yet been brought into being. The question, 
therefore, could arise only with the advent of 
denominations of different faith and polity. 

It will be admitted that Baptists should have 
the right to state for themselves their position 
on this subject. There is no doubt that many 
have misunderstood our contention in this con- 
nection, for the simple reason that they accepted 
our position as stated by others, rather than by 
ourselves. 

That there may be no doubt as to our posi- 
tion, let me state that every well-informed 
Scriptural Baptist in the universe must, and 
does, believe in restricted communion. It is 
foolish, however, to say that Baptists believe in 
''Close" Communion. It would be just as rea- 
sonable to say that Baptists believe in ''close" 
salvation. Baptists are, on this and all other 
Scriptural teaching, strict constructionists. 
They believe the Bible says what it means, and 
means what it says, and that we have no right 
to add to or take from the words of the Book. 
They, therefore believe in a Scriptural partici- 
pation in the Lord's Supper, regardless of whom 
it may include or exclude. It is the Lord's 
Table and not ours, and He alone has the right 
to establish the terms of partaking. 



100 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

All will agree that the Supper is a restricted 
ordinance. The only question that can arise in 
this connection is as to the nature and number 
of the restrictions. Here, as elsewhere, our only 
recourse is to the Book — the law and testimony. 

First, the observance of the Supper is re- 
stricted to the churcheSf as may be seen from the 
following passages: "For, first of all, when ye 
come together, I hear that there be divisions 
among you, and I partly believe it." ''What! 
Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or 
despise ye the church of God, and shame them 
that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall 
I praise you in this? I praise you not." "And' 
if any man hunger, let him eat at home ; that ye 
come not altogether unto condemnation. And 
the rest will I set in order when I come." I. 
Cor. 11 :18, 22, 34. "And upon the first day of 
the week, when the disciples came together to 
break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to 
depart on the morrow, and continued his speech 
until midnight." Acts 20:7. "And they con- 
tinued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and 
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in 
prayers." If, then, a church ordinance, it 
should be administered only by the churches. 

Beyond question, then, there is at least one 
restriction on the celebration of this ordinance. 



RESTRICTED COMMUNION 101 

That the Lord's Supper is a church ordinance, 
is, or at least should be, a closed question among 
Baptists. If it is a Christian, and not a church, 
ordinance, then any Christian, anywhere, under 
any circumstances, may partake of the emblems, 
and call such an act a partaking of the Supper. 

And if restricted to a church, then neces- 
sarily to the members of the church. And if to 
the members of a church, then admittedly to 
baptized believers, since by common consent 
only baptized believers are entitled to church 
membership. Practically all denominations 
agree that baptism is requisite to church mem- 
bership, and that church membership is a pre- 
requisite to the Supper. There is not an exam- 
ple in the Bible of one partaking of the Supper 
before baptism. That baptism comes before the 
Supper is proved — 

1. By the Commission- — teaching — faith — 
baptism — Supper. 

2. By the significance of the ordinances — in 
baptism, we profess to have received life, while 
in the Supper we have that heavenly food that 
symbolizes the sustenance of life. 

3. By apostolic precedent — in Acts 2 :41, 42, 
the order is given — "Then they that received 
His word were baptized: and there were added 
unto them in that day about three thousand 



102 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

souls. And they continued steadfastly in the 
apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the break- 
ing of bread and the prayers." Here, the order 
is clearly — faith — baptism, and the Lord's 
Supper. 

4. Universal Christian teaching. We know 
of no confession of faith that puts the Supper 
before baptism. Certainly, we have as much 
right to change the ordinance as to change the 
order of its observance. Who would dare to 
take the wine before the bread? 

This phase of the subject then resolves itself 
into the question, "What is baptism?" Here, 
Baptists are agreed, and their convictions must 
determine their position and practice. If a Bap- 
tist Church believes that only an immersed be- 
liever should partake of the Supper, and yet in- 
vites one who has been sprinkled for baptism, 
or immersed for the remission of sins, it not 
only contradicts its faith, but expressly declares 
such substitutes to be Scriptural baptism. To do 
this, is to forfeit our faith and commit denom- 
inational suicide. An open grave is the inevita- 
ble logic of open communion for Baptists. 

Restricted communion is the mildest possible 
protest by Baptists against substitutes for 
Scriptural baptism. Without doubt, the Baptist 
contention for restricted communion has pre- 



RESTRICTED COMMUNION 103 

served believer 's baptism, and should our people 
surrender this contention, it will be only a ques- 
tion of time when believer's baptism will be lost 
to the earth. 

It is gratifying to note in this connection 
that some of the most scholarly, who are opposed 
to our views on this question, recognize the logic 
and wisdom of our practice of restricted com- 
munion. Henry Ward Beecher said : 

*'A Pedobaptist who believes that baptism is 
a prerequisite to communion, has no right to 
censure Baptist churches for close communion. 
On this question, there is a great deal of pulling 
out of motes by people whose own vision is, not 
clear." 

Dr. Hibbard, the great Methodist preacher 
and writer, says: 

*'It is but just to remark that in one prin- 
ciple, the Baptist and Pedobaptist churches 
agree. They both agree in rejecting from com- 
munion at the table of the Lord and in denying 
the rights of church fellowship to all who have 
not been baptized. Valid baptism, they consider 
as essential to constitute visible church member- 
ship. This also we (the Methodists) hold. The 
only question, then, that here divides us is. What 
is essential to valid baptism ? ' ' 



104 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Dr. Wall, one of the most scholarly of all 
Episcopalian writers, says : 

'^No church ever gave the communion to 
persons before they were baptized. Among all 
the absurdities that were ever held, none ever 
maintained that any person should partake of 
the communion before they were baptized." 

Dr. Doddridge: 

' ' It is certain that Christians in general have 
always been spoken of by the most ancient 
fathers as baptized persons. And it is also cer- 
tain that, so far as our knowledge of primitive 
antiquity extends, no unbaptized person ever 
received the Lord's Supper.'' 

Dr. Dwight says: 

*'It is an indispensable qualification for this 
ordinance that the candidate for the communion 
be a member of the visible Church of Christ in 
full standing. By this, I mean he should be a 
person of piety, that he should have made a pub- 
lic profession of religion, and that he should 
have been baptized." 

Justyn Martyr (A. D. 150) says: 

''This food is called by us the Eucharist, of 
which it is not lawful for anyone to partake, 
but such as believe the things taught by us to 
be true, and have been baptized." 

Many other similar statements might be 



RESTRICTED COMMUNION 105 

given, but these will suffice to show that the 
candid scholarship of other denominations fully 
recognizes the consistency of our position. Their 
contention with us is not concerning our prac- 
tice of restricted communion, but the fact that 
we will not acknowledge the scriptural authority 
of their churches, and their substitutes for scrip- 
tural baptism. They believe we are baptized, 
and therefore are willing to take the Supper 
with us; we do not believe they are baptized, 
and therefore cannot take the Supper with 
them. Since, then, there is, by common consent, 
at least one restriction, open communion is a 
Scriptural impossibility. 

Another restriction laid down by our Lord, is 
that this ordinance cannot be observed where 
there are factions in the church. "For, first of 
all, when ye come together in the church, I hear 
that there are divisions among you, and I partly 
believe it." ''When ye come together, therefore, 
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Sup- 
per." I. Cor. 11:18, 20. 

This passage of Scripture clearly restricts 
the ordinance to a church without factions. A 
church with divisions, or factions, cannot, there- 
fore, observe the Supper. The members of 
such a church may eat the bread and drink the 
wine, but this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. 



106 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

It will hardly be denied by anyone that we 
are restricted to the use of bread and wine in 
the celebration of the Supper. The following 
verses are quite specific as to the use of bread 
and wine: 

''And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, 
and blessed, and brake it; and He gave to the 
disciples, and said. Take, eat; this is my body. 
And He took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave 
it to them, saying. Drink ye all of it ; for this is 
my blood of the covenant, which is poured out 
for many unto remission of sins." 

It is hardly necessary to say that water and 
cake could not be substituted for bread and 
wine. Bread, and bread only, is designated to 
represent the body; and wine, and wine only, 
the blood of our Saviour. The Supper, there- 
fore, is restricted as to symbols and the things 
symbolized. 

Beyond question, the ordinance is restricted 
in its design. It was given for a definite and 
specific purpose, as will be seen from the fol- 
lowing passage : 

"This do in remembrance of me." Luke 22: 
19. Unfortunately, many well disposed people 
seem to have entirely missed the meaning of 
this sacred institution. Not a few appear to 
believe that the primary purpose of the Lord's 



RESTRICTED COMMUNION 107 

Supper is to show our love for one another. It 
is quite common to hear some one say, *'I 
wouldn't be a Baptist, because I couldn't com- 
mune with my mother, or my wife." Just as 
though it were possible to commune with one's 
wdfe or mother. Such seem to imagine that the 
Supper was specially instituted for the purpose 
of affording an opportunity for a husband to 
manifest his love to his wife or mother. It is 
significant in this regard, that the mother of our 
Saviour was in Jerusalem when He instituted 
the Supper, yet she was not present, and did not 
partake. This is equally true of a vast number 
of other followers then in Jerusalem. Certainly, 
there are many other ways in which Christians 
can more effectually show their love. Better 
display our love at our own expense rather than 
that of the Scriptures. The Corinthian church 
seemed to have cherished the current conception 
of the Supper, with the result that the ratio of 
their drunkenness probably equaled the ratio of 
their love. 

The very fact that a man is thinking of his 
wife, mother, or anyone else, while partaking of 
the Supper is conclusive proof that he is dis- 
obeying the command, ' ' This do in remembrance 
of me." This ordinance is a memorial, and a 
memorial of Christ only. As we eat the bread, 



108 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

we should think of his broken body ; and as we 
drink the wine, of the blood so freely shed for 
us. To think of another at such a time, is not 
to "discern the Lord's body," and he that does 
not do this, ' ' eateth and drinketh condemnation 
to himself. ' ' 

Another restriction, and one quite commonly 
overlooked; is the restriction to doctrinal agree- 
ment. The one loaf represents the one body, and 
though the loaf be broken, it is the sum and sub- 
stance of the parts. Paul, in writing to the 
church at Rome, said: 

''Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them 
that are causing the divisions and occasions of 
stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which ye 
learned, and turn away from them. ' ' Rom. 16 : 
17. 

"We deeply regret that there are such wide 
doctrinal differences among Christians, yet we 
cannot do away with these differences by deny- 
ing them. It is not a very pleasant fact, and 
yet a fact, that a minister of any one of the so- 
called evangelical denominations would be ex- 
cluded from his pulpit should he dare preach 
some of the cherished doctrines of the other de- 
nominations. For example, should I preach 
sprinkling for baptism, I would be rightly ex- 
cluded by my church. Were a Presbyterian 



RESTRICTED COMMUNION. 109 

preacher to declare from his pulpit that he be- 
lieved in apostasy, the result can easily be 
imagined. 

Whatever, then, would oar one from member- 
ship in our churches should also bar him from 
the table set by our churches. The Supper is a 
privilege of a church member, and if not en^ 
titled to membership, certainly not to the Sup- 
per. The greater includes the less. 

The following syllogisms may serve to at 
least make clear the Baptist position : 

1. Only New Testament churches have the 
right to set forth the Lord's Supper. 

2. Pedobaptist and Campbellite churches 
are not New Testament churches. 

3. Pedobaptist and Campbellite churches 
have no right to set forth the Lord 's Supper. 

1. Only those who have had the ''one bap- 
tism" should partake of the Lord's Supper. 

2. Pedobaptists and Campbellites have not 
had the ''one baptism." 

3. Pedobaptists and Campbellites should 
not partake of the Supper. 

1. Only those in doctrinal agreement should 
sit together at the Lord's table. 

2. Baptists and others are not in doctrinal 
agreement. 

3. Baptists and others should not sit to- 



110 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD, 

gether at the Lord's table. 

1. The Lord's Supper symbolizes the church 
fellowship of those who together partake of it. 

2. Baptists are not in fellowship with Pedo- 
baptists and Campbellites. 

3. Baptists should not partake with Pedo- 
baptists and Campbellites of the Lord's Supper. 

The claim that the Baptist position on the 
Supper is a bar to church union seems to be used 
as a sedative for the accusing conscience of the 
unbaptized. If our position is scriptural, it 
should be held regardless of its consequences. 
The Lord can well take care of the logical re- 
sults of His own commands. As a matter of 
fact, those who practice ''open communion'* 
maintain their distinctive doctrines while so 
doing, and Wesleyism and Presbyterianism and 
Cambellism are apparently as far apart as. ever' 
in spite of this sentimental practice. 

If church union is to come, a consummation 
devoutly to be wished, under scriptural condi- 
tions. Baptists, of all people, offer the only 
reasonable platform — ''one Lord, one faith, and 
one baptism." In addition they have baptism 
that is universally recognized as scriptural, and 
hence others have only to surrender a sentiment 
to accept it. Surely no one would demand the 
surrender of a principle upon the part of 



RESTRICTED COMMUNION 111 

another rather than himself surrender sentiment. 

Concerning church union, in this regard, Dr. 
J. F. Love well says: 

''It is here that the union of evangelical 
Christians ought to begin. They ought to unite on 
the fundamentals of Christian faith and Christ 's 
chosen means of preserving and preaching these. 
If they will agree upon the forms which Jesus 
selected and faithfully preach the gospel which 
these contain, they will, by magnetism of the 
Truth, surely draw together in real and valid 
bonds of Christian union, multiply their num- 
bers many fold, and greatly increase their evan- 
gelical power against sin, rationalism, and 
E. m i s h ecclesiasticism and sacerdotalism. 
While waiting for the denominations to do this, 
let individual Christians do their duty by ob- 
serving and commending to others these ordi- 
nances which hold in symbolism the saving 
elements of the gospel and so obviously fore- 
token victory over the grave and a blissful im- 
mortality for those who believe on God's Son." 



VIII. 

RESTEICTED BAPTISM. 

I. — As to Design. 

Of greater importance even than the mode is 
the purpose for which baptism is administered. 
Broadly speaking, baptism is always adminis- 
tered for one of two things — in obedience to the 
command of Christ, or for the remission of sins. 
Those who believe that baptism is vitally related 
to the forgiveness of sins, differ widely as to the 
efficacy and extent of this relation. Not a few 
profess to believe that baptism procures regeU' 
eration, while others claim that it completes it. 

It is of infinite importance that we make no 
mistake concerning the place and province of 
baptism. If baptism has any atoning power, it 
must conflict with the sovereignty of the blood 
of Christ in salvation. To whatever extent then, 
baptism is essential to salvation, to that extent 
the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, does not 
cleanse from all sin. In other words, if baptism 
is, in anywise, essential to salvation, Christ did 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 113 

not make a complete atonement. And since the 
atonement is our only hope of salvation, a mis- 
take concerning it may cost the eternal welfare 
of the soul. 

First of all, we assert that baptism is not for 
the forgiveness of sins, because the Bible teaches 
that we are justified hy faith. The following 
passages of Scripture teach beyond the shadow 
of a doubt that we are justified by faith, and 
not baptism, or faith and baptism. "To him 
give all the prophets witness, that through his 
name whosoever believeth in him shall receive 
remission of sins." Acts 10:43. "And by him 
all that believe are justified from all things, 
from which ye could not be justified by the law 
of Moses." Acts 13:39. "And brought them 
out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus ^Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 
16 :30, 31. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel 
of Christ; for it is the power of God unto sal- 
vation to every one that believeth; to the Jew 
first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16. 
"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation 
through faith in his blood, to declare his right- 
eousness for the remission of sins that are past, 
through the forbearance of God." Eomans 3: 
25. "Even the righteousness of God which is 



114 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

by faith, of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all 
them that believe; for there is no difference.'* 
Romans 3 :22. ' ' Seeing it is one God, which shall 
justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircum- 
cision through faith." Romans 3:30. "For 
what, saith the Scripture? Abraham believed 
God, and it was counted unto him for righteous- 
ness. Now to him that workcth is the reward 
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him 
that worketh not, but believeth on him that jus- 
tifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for right- 
eousness. Even as David also describeth the 
blessedness of the man, unto whom God imput- 
eth righteousness without works." Romans 4: 
3-6. ' ' That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart 
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou 
shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believ- 
eth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth con- 
fession is made unto salvation." Romans 10 :10, 
11. *'But that no man is justified by the law in 
the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just 
shall live by faith." Gal. 3:11. *' And he said 
unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee ; go 
in peace." Luke 7:50. 

Many other similar passages might be cited, 
but these should suffice. In many, many in- 
stances, we are taught that he that believeth 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 115 

not, shall be lost, but nowhere are we taught 
that he who is baptized not shall be damned. 
Surely, if baptism is essential to salvation, 
somewhere in the Bible it would be stated that 
the unbaptized were lost. Faith is the one me- 
dium through which comes the blessing of for- 
giveness. It is the conduit which conveys the 
grace of redemption. 

If justification is not by faith, but by faith 
and baptism, then Christ, during His entire min- 
istry did not save a single soul, as He never bap- 
tized anyone. Thus it is, that the false and fool- 
ish doctrine of baptismal regeneration causes 
the curious contradiction that He who came to 
seek and save the lost, lived and died without 
personally perfecting the salvation of one soul. 

According to this process of sanitary salva- 
tion, the princely Paul probably led not more 
than ten souls to the Saviour during his entire 
ministry. This clearly appears from the fol- 
lowing verses: '*I thank God that I baptized 
none of you, but Crispus and Gains; lest any 
should say that I baptized in my own name. 
And I baptized also the household of Stephanas : 
besides, I know not whether I baptized any 
other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but 
to preach the gospel : not with wisdom of words, 
lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none 



116 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

effect." I. Cor. 1*14, 15, 16, 17. 

Even worse, for if baptism is essential to 
salvation, Paul puts himself in the peculiar po- 
sition of thanking God that he saved so few. 
More, Paul states specifically that he was not 
sent to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. This, 
according to the advocates of forgiveness, was 
equivalent to saying he was not sent to preach 
or practice a Gospel that saves. 

Baptism cannot be essential to the forgive- 
ness of sins, as baptism is admittedly a work, 
and salvation is not ty works, hut of grace. 
This is made plain from the following Scrip- 
tures; "And if by grace, then it is no more of 
works: otherwise, grace is no more grace. But 
if it be of works, then is it no more of grace: 
otherwise, work is no more work. ' ' Romans 11 : 
6. "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. 
By what law? of works? Nay, but by the law 
of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is 
justified by faith without the deeds of the law." 
Romans 3:27, 28. "For the children being not 
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, 
that the purpose of God according to election 
might stand, not of works, but of him that call- 
eth." Romans 9:11. "And when James, 
Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, 
perceived the grace that was given unto me, 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 117 

they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand 
of fellowship; that we should go unto the 
heathen, and they unto the circumcision." Gal. 
2:9. ''For we are his workmanship, created in 
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath 
before ordained that we should walk in them," 
Eph. 2 :10. ''For by grace are ye saved through 
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift 
of God." Eph. 2:8. If a man is saved by good 
works, all of his works would have to be good, 
and he would be damned for any bad work, or 
for the failure of doing the one good work of 
baptism. This makes the source of salvation in 
the creature, and not in Christ. It naturally 
follows, that all who believe in baptismal regen- 
eration must believe in salvation by works. 
Works, or water, or waterworks, can never be 
necessary to the forgiveness of sins. We are 
created unto good works, but never by them; 
for by grace are ye saved, through faith, and 
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Go(\. ' ' It 
would be entirely appropriate for those who 
make of baptism a saving sacrament, to recon- 
struct the old hymn to make it read as follows : 

**0h, to baptism how great a debtor 
Daily I'm constraiii6d to be." 

Quite naturally, those who believe that it 



118 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

takes baptism to complete the plan of salvation, 
do not believe in the doctrine of Christian as- 
surance. In all my ministry, I have never 
known of one, who believed in baptism for the 
remission of sins, who would say, "I know I am 
saved." Invariably, the only assurance that 
such a one claims, is the fact of his baptism, and 
not the testimony of the Spirit. 

Not only is the doctrine of baptismal remis- 
sion contrary to the entire teaching of Scripture, 
but directly opposed to the experience and eon- 
science of millions of the redeemed. An over- 
whelming majority of the professed followers 
of Christ claim to be saved independent of their 
baptism. If the theory of baptism held by the 
disciples of Alexander Campbell be true, there 
are in the world today, only about one million 
saved people. If immersion is essential to salva- 
tion, even the Baptists will all be lost, as none 
of them have been immersed for the remission of 
sms. Thousands upon thousands of Pedobap- 
tists will also be lost in spite of the fact they 
have given every evidence of regeneration. If 
we are to know them by their '^fruits", many 
of them excel in every good word and work and 
give every e\ddence of the "fruits of the Spirit." 
That all these must be lost if the doctrine of im- 
mersion for the remission of sins is true, is pain- 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 119 

fully self-evident. Among this number are 
many of the greatest and most consecrated of 
all time. That Alexander Campbell and Prof. 
J. W. McGarvey did teach the deadly doctrine, 
will appear elsewhere in this volume. Suffice it 
here to quote the last words ever written by 
Prof. McGarvey on the subject of Baptism: 

' ' To set the mind of the Kecorder at rest on 
this subject, if possible, I may say that Mr. 
Campbell taught, and I agree with him, not as 
the Recorder has it, that there is no promise of 
salvation without immersion, but as the 'Advo- 
cate' more correctly expresses it, 'Salvation be- 
fore baptism'. It would be still more accurate 
on account of the ambiguity of the word 'salva- 
tion' to say that there is no promise in the Gos- 
pel of Christ of remission of sins before baptism. 
That many may be finally saved who will not 
have been baptized, infants certainly, is the com- 
mon belief of Mr. Campbell and his brethren, but 
that all who claim to have received the remission 
of sins before baptism are laboring under a de- 
lusion, we have affirmed and do affirm with all 
confidence." 

The contradictory character of the above de- 
liverance will readily appear, to even the casual 
reader. Of course, those he refers to as "may 
be saved" without baptism, are evidently those 



120 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

who lived before Pentecost. Yet, in spite of 
the contradictions, Prof. McGarvey asserts that 
those who believe they have received the remis- 
sion of sins before baptism are laboring under a 
delusion. If this means anything, it means that 
no one's sins are remitted before baptism; and 
since it is true that no one can enter heaven 
without the remission of sins, it follows that no 
unbaptized person can enter heaven. 

These words appeared in the Christian 
Standard of Cincinnati, some ninety days be- 
fore his death, and clearly show that he had not 
receded from his former position on this ques- 
tion. 

The plea that the unbaptized may be saved, 
but if so, not according to the Gospel, is hardly 
worthy of a reply. To even insinuate that any- 
one can be saved in any way contrary to the 
Gospel, is to impugn the veracity of Christ, and 
deny the credibility of the Scriptures. 

A very pertinent question is that, If baptism 
is for the remission of sins, what was Christ 
baptized for? To say that He was baptized for 
the remission of sins is to say that He was a 
sinner. To the contrary, it is specifically stated 
why He was baptized — to fulfill all righteousk 
ness. There are only two passages of Scripture 
that are confidently relied upon by the advocates 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 121 

of the doctrine of immersion for the remission 
of sins. These two passages are John 3 :5 and 
Acts 2:38. Strangely enough, the disciples of 
Mr. Campbell are estopped by their own conten- 
tion from quoting this verse to uphold their doc- 
trine of immersion-remission. There is not 
one of their teachers or preachers in all the 
land who does not hold that the Kingdom was set 
up at Pentecost; yet these words were spoken 
sometime before Pentecost. As is well known, 
those who follow the teaching of Alexander 
Campbell all hold that the ''dying thief" was 
saved before Pentecost, and that the plan of sal- 
vation effective in his case, was not valid after 
Pentecost. The same parity of reasoning would 
exclude John 3 :5 from consideration in this con- 
nection. In spite of this, it is our purpose to 
show that this passage was not intended to teach 
baptism, but regeneration. After something of 
a study of this text, I am prepared to demon- 
strate that it has no reference whatever to the 
subject of baptism. Had Christ meant to teach 
that baptism was essential to regeneration, it is 
reasonable to assume that He would have used 
the word "baptism", not ** water". The as- 
sumption that "water" here refers to baptism, 
is entirely gratuitous, and incapable of proof. 
If something other than the new birth was es- 



122 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD, 

sential to salvation, surely Christ would have 
stated that something, by its natural and usual 
name, as He did in other instances, when He re- 
ferred to the subject of baptism. Nor is there 
anything in the context to demand, or suggest, 
such reference. Indeed, the context absolutely 
forbids a reference to baptism. In the verse fol- 
lowing, which is explanatory and illustrative, 
we have the words, "That which is born of the 
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the 
Spirit is spirit." Here, the human birth is, by 
common consent, clearly referred to. In addi- 
tion, a sharp contrast is drawn between the two. 
If, then, ''water" in the fifth verse refers to 
baptism, the phrase ''which is born of flesh" in 
the sixth verse refers to baptism, which would 
be equal to saying. That which is bom of bap- 
tism is baptism. 

In the same chapter, and relating to the same 
subject, we are taught that salvation is by faith. 
"That whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved 
the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not per- 
ish, but have everlasting life." John 3:15, 16. 
If, then, water in verse 5, refers to baptism, 
Christ contradicts Himself in verses 15 and 16, 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 123 

and that, too, in the same conversation. This is 
unthinkable. 

What, then, is the meaning of this much- 
mooted text ? There is one, and only one, inter- 
pretation that will make the context harmonize 
with the text, and save the teaching of Christ 
from being contradictory. Obviously, "water" 
refers to the birth according to the flesh, and 
"spirit" has reference to the spiritual birth. As 
every physician knows, water may very rightly 
be used to represent the human birth. It is not 
necessary to speak more plainly or fully here, to 
prove the truth of this statement. 

To make the water represent the natural 
birth, and spirit, the spiritual birth is the only 
possible interpretation that accords with the 
context, and makes consistent the teaching of 
Christ. 

Even if it could be shown that "water" in 
this text refers to baptism, it would not be con- 
clusive as a proof text for baptismal regenera- 
tion. The laws of evidence compel us to respect 
the weight of evidence. For example, if there 
should be eight Supreme Court decisions affirm- 
ing a certain point of law, and one denying it, 
the natural thing to do would be to follow the 
eight. 

Strangely enough, those who claim that the 



124 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

word water refers to baptism are unwilling to 
follow their interpretation to its logical conclu- 
sion. It is not likely that the most ardent advo- 
cate of the scheme of baptismal remission will 
affirm that water per se will regenerate the soul. 
Note too, that if "water" is to stand for bap- 
tism, and baptism for the new birth, then, ac- 
cording to the order in which these come, bap- 
tism effects the new birth prior to, and inde- 
pendent of, any spiritual work. Practically all 
Christians agree that the new birth is the result 
of the work of the Holy Spirit. 

To make ''water" equal baptism, then, we 
must be born of flesh, water and spirit, and 
hence three births. The very fact that such an 
interpretation demands three births is quite 
enough to demonstrate its fallacy. 

Let us suppose that the conversation between 
Christ and Nicodemus had closed with the third 
verse, that is with the statement, ''Except a man 
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." From this statement could, or would, 
anyone ever have inferred that He had any ref- 
erence to baptism? In fact, had not Nicodemus 
asked the further question, the reference to 
"water" would probably have never been 
made. If Christ had reference to baptism, and 
baptism was essential to forgiveness, surely He 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 125 

would have so stated it when He mentioned what 
was necessary to enter the Kingdom of God. 
According to the baptismal regenerationists, 
it is exceedingly fortunate that Nicodemus 
prompted Christ to illustrate his former declara- 
tion. 

The advocates of immersion for remission of 
sins, further base their contention on Acts 2 :38 
— "Then Peter said unto them, Eepent and be 
baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall re- 
ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 

It is well to bear in mind that the Revised 
Version rightly translates the Greek word ''m" 
''unto" instead of ''for". The word "for" and 
the attempt to make it mean "in order to," has 
given seeming support to the theory of baptis- 
mal regeneration. 

Dr. J. B. Moody, who has made a critical and 
scholarly study of this text gives the following : 

"The next resort in an honest and thorough 
investigation is to its current use in the Scrip- 
tures. The New Testament Scriptures will per- 
mit ample scope, as this preposition occurs 
seventeen hundred times. The effort has been 
to maintain that purpose or design inheres in 
the preposition eis, rather than try to prove that 
the circumstances of Acts 2 :38 require it. I am 



126 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

prepared aud shall proceed to disprove both. 
Mr. Anderson, who twice translated the New 
Testament for his people, translated Acts 2 :38 
in order to; and to make himself consistent, he 
translated the first occurrence of eis with bap- 
tize in the same wa}^, viz.: Matt. 4:11: *'I bap- 
tize you in order to repentance." In carefully 
following this translation through I find that he 
translates it 'in order to' about as often as he 
could and make a good English sentence. 
Twenty times, after a careful count, with a 
careful assistant, is the way it stands in the 
house of its friends; that is, 20 to 1,680. Mr. 
Wilson, in his 'Emphatic Diaglott,' has five to 
1,695, and he sj^mpathizes with the doctrine. 
Campbell, in 'Living Oracles,' has 4 to 1,696. 
The Bible Union has 2 to 1,698. Doddridge has 
1 to 1,699. King James, though translating it 
48 different ways, has no 'in order to'. Oxford 
Revision has none ; Wesley has none ; Sharpe 
has none ; Sawyer has none. Making a summary 
of the ten translations, we have thirty-tw3 
against 16,968. But, as three of these believed 
the doctrine of baptismal remission, and were 
witnesses in their own cases, according to a com- 
mon custom, we will refuse that part of their 
testimony that is in their favor, and take only 
those that were against themselves for that kind 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 127 

of testimony is always reliable; the other, gen- 
erally unreliable. This leaves 3 to 16,997 by the 
ten translations. 

''The following will amply illustrate: 'What 
shall I do that I might inherit eternal life?' 
Purpose and design clearly stated, but not with 
the preposition eis. 'Ye will not come to me 
that ye might have life.' Purpose but no eis. 
'What must I do to be saved?' Purpose but no 
eis. 'Turn them from darkness to light, that 
they might receive forgiveness of sins.' Pur- 
pose but no eis. 'These things I say unto you 
that ye might be saved.' Purpose expressed 
without eis. 'Send Lazarus that he may dip 
the tip of his finger in water.' Purpose but no 
eis. 'Brought infants that he might touch 
them.' 'Put hands on Saul that he might re- 
ceive sight.' 'Sent me that thou mightest re- 
ceive sight.' 'Prayed that they might receive 
the Holy Spirit.' 'I am come that thou mightest 
have life, and that more abundantly.' Peter 
could have expressed design in Acts 2:38 so 
there could have been no doubt or debate, but 
this he did not do. It can't be proved that bap- 
tize eis ever expresses design. It is begging the 
question and forcing a false conclusion to con- 
tend that it is the province of eis to express de- 



128 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

sign, for out of 1,700 occurrences it rarely 
does." 

Admitting, for sake of argument, that ''for*' 
is a correct English translation, it is still impos- 
sible to torture the text into teaching baptism 
for the remission of sins. But the definition of 
the dictionaries should forever settle the ques- 
tion. The ''Standard" defines the word ''for" 
as follows: "Because of, by reason of; on ac- 
count of; as, he was respected for his virtues." 
Webster defines it : "In the place of , " " because 
of," "by reason of." Indeed, not one of the 
dictionaries gives "in order to," as either the 
primary or secondary meaning of the word 
"for." 

Since then, neither "eis" in Greek, nor 
'for" in English mean "in order to," why 
should anyone dare to stake his soul, and the 
souls of others, upon an interpretation that is 
unwarranted in Greek or English? 

A very common use of "for" is seen in the 
sentence — "He was placed in prison for steal- 
ing." Clearly, the thought is, he was placed in 
prison because he had stolen and not "in order 
to steal." A man is hung "for" murder, be- 
cause he has already committed murder, and 
not that he may commit murder. Just so, a 
man is baptized on account of sins already com- 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 129 

mitted, and not "in order to" remission, or 
that lie may commit them. 

It is absolutely certain that if those baptized 
on Pentecost were baptized in order to 
obtain remission of sins, they were the only 
ones of whom this was ever true. It is 
significant that nowhere in the New Testament 
is a seemingly similar statement made. Granted, 
that this view would seem to teach baptism for 
the remission of sins, should it be allowed to con- 
tradict the plain teaching of a multitude of 
other Scriptures? When Peter who spoke these 
words, laid down the terms of salvation to the 
household of Cornelius, he said: "To him give 
all the prophets witness, that through his name 
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remis- 
sion of sins." Acts 10:43. Here he expressly 
predicates salvation on faith, and appeals even 
to the prophets to strengthen his statement. Did 
Peter contradict himself, or make a mistake 
when declaring the Gospel to the Gentile world ? 
It should be remembered that he was preaching 
to those who knew nothing of the Gospel, and 
who would rely on what he said for the plan of 
salvation. Had Peter withheld something es- 
sential to salvation in preaching to Cornelius, 
he would have been guilty of an inexcusable 
crime. At all events, Cornelius had received the 



130 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Holy Spirit, and was accepted of the church be- 
fore baptism. Peter stated that they had re- 
ceived the Holy Spirit as welt as others, and 
that therefore no one should forbid them water. 
Did Peter, in Acts 2 :38, contradict the teaching 
of Christ on the same subject? He certainly 
did, if he taught baptism in order to the remis- 
sion of sins. Did he contradict Paul and all the 
other writers of the New Testament? 

The fundamental, and perhaps fatal, mis- 
take concerning baptism has come from mistak- 
ing the symbol for the thing symbolized. This, 
perchance, is natural to the unthinking mind or 
unregenerate heart. Baptism is declarative, and 
at best can only declare a work of grace that 
has already been wrought in the soul. The dif- 
ference between Baptists and those who believe 
in baptismal remission may be expressed as fol- 
lows: Baptists baptize a man, in obedience to 
a command because he is a child of God, while 
baptismal remissionists baptize a man to make 
him a child of God. In other words, baptism 
is a burial, and Baptists bury a man because he 
is dead (to sin), while the followers of Mr. 
Campbell bury a live man (live to sin) to kill 
him. It is usually deemed proper to bury those 
who are dead. 

It is frequently said that since baptism is the 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM 131 

plain duty of the Christian, it makes no differ- 
ence what place we assign it; or in what order 
it comes. In other words, the contention is, 
that as long as one believes and is baptized, the 
question when he is baptized, is altogether 
immaterial. However plausible this may 
seem at first sight, a little investigation will 
show that it conceals a dangerous, yes, a 
deadly, fallacy. The question goes to the 
very heart of the Atonement. The whole sub- 
ject reduces itself to this question: "Does the 
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanse us from 
all sin?" In other words, did Christ make a 
complete atonement, and was His work a fin- 
ished work? If Christ made a complete atone- 
ment, then baptism, which is a work, is not nec- 
essary to complete it. If our redemption was 
wrought out at Calvary, and the debt of sin paid, 
then a preacher and a pool are not necessary to 
pay the debt of sin. Whatever Christ may 
claim, by common consent, He claims the credit 
for our salvation. If baptism is essential to 
salvation, then the credit must be divided be- 
tween Christ and the preacher. The man 
who trusts in the blood of Christ and the 
water of baptism, cannot be trusting in Christ 
for his salvation. The best that could be said 
of him, would be, that he is trusting in Christ 



132 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

and baptism. According to the New Tes- 
tament, it is not Christ pi as or minus, 
but Christ alone and only. Hear ye Him, 
"I am the way," ''I am the door," "He 
that Cometh in any other way, is a thief 
and a robber." It follows, therefore, 
that anyone trusting in anything but the 
blood of Christ for salvation, is inevitably 
lost. "Well may we sing: 

"My hope is built on nothing less 
IThan Jesus' blood and righteousness." 

In the great apocalyptic vision it was 
the blood-bought who walked the streets 
that are of pure gold. When John said, 
''Who are these?" back came the an- 
swer, ''These are they which have come 
up out of great tribulation, and have 
washed their robes, and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb." Evidently, 
their robes had not been made white in the 
waters of baptism. 

Even those who believe in baptismal remis- 
sion are inconsistent in practicing it. For ex- 
ample, those who immerse for the remission of 
sins, also believe in apostasy. They believe that 
a Christian can revert to his former state of sin 
and occupy the same relation to God that he did 



RESTRICTED BAPTISM. 133 

prior to his eonversion. Yet, in spite of 
this, when he again professes Christ, they re- 
fuse to baptize again. In other words, bap- 
tism was essential to his salvation in one in- 
stance, but not in another. The legs of the lame 
are not equal. 

We are absolutely sure that baptism will 
not change the sinful state, as we have 
baptized some who gave every evidence that 
their sins were not remitted. It is en- 
heartening to know that the ministers who 
immerse for the remission of sins, do not 
claim that God calls them to preach such a 
doctrine. "We accept at full face value, their 
contention that God did no* call them to 
preach. 

It is my deliberate opinion, based upon an 
observation of many years, that this soul-de-. 
stroying doctrine has done more to obliterate 
the doctrine of regeneration and weaken the 
cause of experiential religion than possibly all 
other heresies. Apparently, only a small num- 
ber of those who have once embraced this doc- 
trine, ever come to a saving knowledge of the 
truth. Would to God, they might, one and all, 
turn unto the Lord, who will have mercy upon 
them, and unto our God who will abundantly 
pardon. In that day, for which all days are 



134 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

made, and to which we are all hastening, how 
infinitely little will seem all else, compared with 
Christ, the Lamb of God for sinners slain. 
When they shall come up from the East and the 
West, and from the North and the South, and 
sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in 
the Kingdom of God, then shall they ascribe 
honor and glory, not to the preacher, or the 
waters of baptism, but to Him who redeemed us 
with His own precious blood- — 

"Jesus paid it all; 
All to Him I owe; 
Sin had left a crimson stain, 
He washed it white as snow." 



IX. 

THE CHURCH-BRANCH THEORY. 
(No text in the Bible.) 

At divers times, various and sundry sub- 
jects have proven divisive in Baptist thought 
and practice. Some of these differences have 
been temperamental, others fundamental, and, 
at one time or another, have engendered un- 
pleasantness, and sometimes estrangement. At 
times, these questions of disagreement have been 
accentuated into distinct schools of thought and 
practice. 

The question naturally arises, Have these 
differences been worth the contention they have 
cost? My answer would be "Yes," and ''No". 
Occasionally, there has been bitter debate, 
where the difference has been that of tweedle- 
dum and tweedledee. Certainly, causes of alien- 
ations of this character are to be deeply de- 
plored and studiously avoided. Unfortunately, 
however, a few points of disagreement have 



136 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

been far-reacliing, and fraught with real danger 
to our faith. Indeed, had some of the liberaliz- 
ing tendencies, which at times have manifested 
themselves, gained the ascendency, our denom- 
inational perpetuity would have been imperiled, 
if not entirely destroyed. 

After something of a study of Baptist his- 
tory and present-day doctrinal tendencies, I am 
thoroughly convinced that the Church-branch 
theory has been, and is, the one common cause 
of practically all the disturbances among Bap- 
tists. A little thought on this subject will, I 
believe, convince anyone that this diagnosis of 
our differences is correct. The trouble with 
many, in this connection, has been that they re- 
garded the Church-branch theory as only a 
theory. When considered only as theory, for 
academic purposes, it may be esteemed as prac- 
tically harmless. As a matter of fact, this 
*' theory" has long since become a basis of faith 
and practice. It is unquestionably true that 
faith in this theory will inevitably discount a 
scriptural church and logically determine one's 
ecclesiastical affinities and denominational con- 
duct. 

The Scripture that is commonly relied upon 
to teach the Church-branch theory, is that re- 
latiQg to the vine and the branches. As is well 



THE CHURCH-BRANCH THEORY 137 

known to all who have given any thought what- 
ever to the question, Christ is the Vine, and 
His disciples, the branches, there is no refer- 
ence whatever to the churches. A mere reading 
of the fifteenth chapter of John is well calcu- 
lated to convince anyone of this fact. In verse 
3 we find the words, "Ye are clean". The "ye" 
here, beyond all question, referring to His 
disciples, to whom His words were addressed. 
In verse 6 of the same chapter, Christ says, "If 
any man abide not in me," etc., not any church. 
Granted, that the various and varying de- 
nominations are, one and all, true churches of 
Christ, no living logician can justify the Scrip- 
tural statement of one Lord, one faith and one 
baptism. If Christ be the Vine, and the many 
denominations the branches, our contention for 
close baptism and close communion are both 
false and futile. No man can consistently believe 
in the Church-branch theory and restricted bap- 
tism and communion. The branches of a vine 
or tree are identical in substance and kind, and 
hence, if the different denominations are 
branches of the same vine, they have the same 
divine source, and are, therefore, of equal merit. 
If Christ is the vine, and all the denominations 
branches, they are all equally New Testament 
churches, with all the rights and privileges, 



138 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

duties and obligations pertaining to a church of 
Christ. This being true, one denomination is 
as good as another, and the choice of a church is 
solely one of taste and sentiment. It would fol- 
low that Baptist churches should accept members 
on letters from all the "branches". Any Bap- 
tist who believes in the Church-branch theory, 
is logically forced to accept a sprinkled member 
of one of the "branches". All that any Baptist 
church can claim is that it is a New Testament 
Church, and when we admit that other denom- 
inations are New Testament churches, then we 
must admit their baptism and their right to the 
Supper. 

The present craze for union meetings of well- 
nigh every kind and character is the natural 
result of the Church-branch theory. The man 
who favors this theory, must, of necessity, favor 
union meetings. In fact, why should we favor 
any other kind? A little investigation will, we 
believe, show that all advocates of union meet- 
ings are believers in this fanciful theory. Their 
conclusion is incontrovertible, the error is with 
their premises. 

The present demand for church union is the 
natural fruit of the Church-branch delusion. 
Obviously, no one can hold this theory and con- 
sistently oppose a church union by a process of 



THE CHURCH-BRANCH THEORY 139 

compromise and cancellation. If the different 
doctrines are of equal merit, and they must be 
if this destructive theory is true, then why allow 
any one of them to stand in the way of church 
union ? If sprinkling equals immersion, and 
immersion for the forgiveness of sins equals 
baptism, then Baptists are nothing less than 
criminal in contending for the immersion of be- 
lievers, at the cost of church union. The whole 
truth is, the consistent carrying out of the 
Church-branch theory means the disappearance 
of every Baptist Church in Christendom. Had 
the many martyrs, who faced the flames for their 
faith, held to this dilitant doctrine, they might 
have died in ignominious old age. 

It will be generally conceded that Christ in- 
stituted a church, and that the church he insti- 
tuted was to serve as a model and pattern for 
all churches of Christ. It is also admitted that 
the churches established in New Testament times 
were of the same faith and order. Granted, 
then, that the church instituted by Christ and 
those founded by the Apostles had the same faith 
and polity — one Lord, one faith and one baptism 
— the burden of proof must rest upon those who 
attempt to prove that churches radically differ- 
inrr from these churches are churches of Christ. 
More: the man who starts a church and claims 



140 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

that it is a Christian church, must prove that 
Christ has expressely authorized him to insti- 
tute a church ; and, if called upon, must be able, 
by miracles and other unfailing signs to demon- 
strate the divinity of his mission. 

Certainly, two distinct and divergent bodies, 
differing in faith and practice, can not claim to 
be equal to the same thing, or to each other. For 
example, it is hardly conceivable that Christ 
would organize one church to teach immersion, 
and another to teach sprinkling ; one to establish 
an ordinance, and another to destroy that ordi- 
nance. It is positively unthinkable that Christ 
would commission one church to affirm a given 
proposition, and another to deny the same prop- 
osition, and at the same time tell us that a house 
divided against itself can not stand. Such a 
course of conduct would make Christ a contra- 
diction and his work automatically and axiomat- 
ically self-destructive. Imagine, if you can, 
Christ commanding the pastor of the church at 
Jerusalem to preach immersion, and the pastor 
of the Corinthian church to preach pouring: 
the brethren at Ephesus to believe in apostasy 
and the disciples at Antioch in the security of 
the believers ! Such a theory defies thought, and 
the Bible hurls it from the heart and reason 
dashes it from the brain. If it is true that we 



THE CHURCH-BRANCH THEORY 141 

are saved by grace, it cannot be true that we 
are saved by works. If a congregational form of 
government is scriptural, a different form of 
government is unscriptural. If the doctrine of 
a final preservation of the saints is true, apos- 
tasy is untrue. If only a believer should be bap- 
tized, it should not be necessary to state that an 
unbeliever should not be baptized. No amount 
of sweet sounding sentiment or fraternal foolish- 
ness can make a statement true and false at one 
and the same time. 

The old illustration of the family and the 
churches has probably done more than any argu- 
ment to render plausible the Church-branch 
theory. The time-worn statement that the chil- 
dren of a family may have different physical 
and mental characteristics, even as the different 
denominations, and yet be the children of the 
same parents, may look reasonable at first sight. 
A little examination of this sentimental shadow 
will readily reveal its fallacy. It is true that 
children may differ in many respects, and yet 
be children of the same father and mother. It 
must be admitted, however, that if a typical 
Chinaman or Indian should be born in an Anglo- 
Saxon home, such an event would be calculated 
to arouse some suspicion. Yet, the difference 
between an Anglo-Saxon and a Chinaman is not 



142 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

in sum and substance as great as the doctrinal 
differences of the various denominations. The 
differences between the denominations are not 
incidental or immaterial, but essential and fun- 
damental. For example, the plan of salvation is 
the very foundation of the entire Christian sys- 
tem. Yet. if the plan of salvation by works, or 
water, as taught by some of the denominations, 
will save a man, the plan of salvation by grace, 
as taught by Baptists, will damn him. Cer- 
tainly, then, the denominational differences are 
so radical that they cannot be said to have been 
built on the same model, or to be the same in 
sum and substance. In view of these facts, it 
would appear that the family illustration is 
hardly in good taste, or according to common 
sense. 

It can be stated, without the least fear of suc- 
cessful contradiction, that there is not a single 
passage in the New Testament that can possibly 
be tortured into teaching the Church-branch 
theory. Those who invented this sentimental 
idea were, no doubt, actuated by the best of 
motives, but it finds no support in reason or 
Scripture. And while we all glory in brotherly 
love, we should not exalt this love at the expense 
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us be loyal to 
Christ, even, if needs be, at the expense of 



THE CHURCH-BRANCH THEORY 143 

friends or family. 

All too long have we combated particular 
heresies growing out of this pernicous theory. 
We may as well go to the fruitful source of these 
hurtful heresies. The fact is, many are not 
willing to face the logic of the Baptist position. 
Whether we like it or not, our position forces us 
to the conclusion that Baptist churches are the 
only New Testament churches. Not only must 
we candidly declare this as our position, but 
more, we must contend for it. Either this, or 
else cease all contention, and surrender our 
denominational life. Baptist churches have 
reached the hour when it is conviction and con- 
tention, or the cemetery. 

But, some one may say, ''What boots it, 
whether one believes, or disbelieves, the Church- 
branch theory?" Our answer would be, Much 
in every way. The entire realm of one's theo- 
logical thinking will be dominated by his view 
of the Church-branch theory. Indeed, the ques- 
tion whether the Church is a human or a divine 
institution must be determined by the falsity or 
truth of the Church-branch contention. 

As we see it, the logical result of the teach- 
ing that all denominations are equally churches 
of Christ, is the ultimate extinction of Baptist 
churches. What, forsooth, is the necessity or 



144 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

sense of maintaining our peculiar position, or 
separate existence, if other denominations are of 
equal merit with, our own? Why perpetuate a 
divisive organization, if other denominations are 
divinely commissioned to do our work? 

The movement for church federation, at 
home and abroad, grows out of our conception 
of the relative value of the churches. Nor could 
we censure those who hold this theory, should 
they prove willing to sacrifice some distinctive 
doctrine for the sake of church amalgamation. 
Granted, the premise that all churches (so- 
called) are churches of Christ, denominational 
death is the inevitable conclusion. If we be- 
lieved in the one, we would most certainly prac- 
tice the other. 

I have not attempted to ascertain the origin 
of this delectable doctrine, but suffice it to say 
that it saves considerable trouble and is a very 
present help in union meetings and a valuable 
aid to popularity. 



X. 

SALVATION AND ITS SUBSTITUTES 

"For neither is circumcision anything, 
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." — 
Galatians 6:15. 

The only possible way to become a new crea- 
ture is by generation, or regeneration. The 
words of Christ, "Except a man be born again 
he cannot see the Kingdom of God," are as true 
today as the day they were uttered by the 
Master; yet, in spite of this clear teaching of 
Scripture, there is a wide-spread disposition to 
underestimate or altogether ignore the necessity 
of the new birth. Indeed, I am constrained to 
believe that, were it not for Baptist teaching, 
this doctrine would cease to be emphasized as 
the one essential to salvation. 

As might be expected, those who are disposed 
to do away with the new birth, are quite anxious 
to offer a substitute. Some of these are more 
or less plausible, and all of them exceedingly 
sinful. 



146 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

One of the current substitutes for regenera- 
tion is education. An emphatic word needs to 
be spoken in this connection, even at the risk of 
being counted unfriendly to the great cause of 
education. The speaker glories in a revival of 
learning, and in the intensive and extensive in- 
terest in educational affairs. The ever-increas^ 
ing interest in our schools and colleges betoken 
a better day and a greater achievement. Would 
that we, one and all, might give ourselves more 
unreservedly to the commanding cause of edu- 
cation. 

And while it would be difficult to over-em- 
phasize the worth of education in its place, as 
a substitute for salvation, it becomes a consum- 
ing curse. It is now boldly proclaimed that a 
child with proper environment and education 
does not need regeneration. If this be true, 
then the blood of Christ is not essential to sal- 
vation; hence His death would be the cardinal 
mistake of the centuries. If one man can be 
saved without the blood of Christ, then why not 
every man ; then why the death of Christ ? Far 
better ignorance with regeneration, than educa- 
tion without it. I believe in culture, provided, 
of course, there is something to cultivate. With 
the ''heart," and not with the head, man be- 
lieveth unto righteousness. Only the new creature 



SALVATION AND ITS SUBSTITUTES 147 

can be educated in the Christian graces. There 
must be birth before there is growth, and divine 
dynamics' before divine development. A college 
degree may be a just acknowledgment of intel- 
lectual achievement, and an A.B. may be rightly 
coveted; but a B.A. — born again — is indispensa- 
ble in the school of Christ. The school, then, 
can never displace Calvary, or all the books in 
Christendom, The Book of Christendom. 

Character is another current substitute for 
the Cross. More and more, the pulpits of our 
land are becoming contaminated by this deadly 
teaching. Naturally, the leaders in this school 
of thought are the Unitarians. As they have no 
Christ, they seek to make character take the 
place of Christ. And while they profess to be- 
lieve they obtain salvation by character, they 
are illogical in refusing to believe that damna- 
tion, according to their belief, should come from 
lack of character. Unfortunately, professed 
Unitarians are not the only ones who believe in 
salvation by character. The greater the pity, 
all Unitarians are not in their own organiza- 
tions. 

Multitudes, in various denominations, be- 
lieve that good deeds constitute character, and 
that character is the only essential to salvation. 
All such expect to be saved by the deeds of the 



148 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

law, though the New Testament teaches that no 
one is saved by the deeds of the law. They still 
believe that the man who ^'doeth these things 
shall live by them". Just here, it may be well 
to say that a man is neither saved nor damned 
by what he does. The man is not damned be- 
cause he is a murderer, but because he did not 
trust Christ. A man is not a thief because he 
steals, but steals because he is a thief. The feet 
of the prodigal followed his heart into the far 
country. The one cause of condemnation is ex- 
pressed in the verse, "They are already con- 
demned, because they have not believed in the 
only begotten Son of God". 

It is what Christ has done for us, and not 
what we, or others, can do, that saves us. There 
are only two classes that seek Christ. One of 
these says, "Jesus paid it all," while the other 
says, "Christ paid a part of it". One of these 
will be saved, the other lost. If Christ paid the 
debt of my sin, I do not owe it. God will not 
require a debt to be twice paid. Not by the 
works of the law, but "by grace are ye saved, 
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is 
the gift of God". 

Still another substitute for the new birth is 
that of ecclesiastical salvation. Uncounted mill- 
ions, in Catholic and Protestant denominations, 



SALVATION AND ITS SUBSTITUTES 149 

are looking to the church for salvation. They 
have rested their hope of salvation in the church 
instead of in Christ. They are conscious of the 
fact that they have never had a ''change of 
heart," and hence cling to the church as their 
only hope. In reply to the question, ''Are you 
a Christian?" we are quite frequently told, "I 
am a member of the church". Alas! we have 
fallen upon times when church membership is 
not even prima facie evidence of regeneration. 
To quit your meanness and join the church is 
deemed sufficient for salvation. 

It is a fact, that all the churches, genuine 
or counterfeit, of all the ages, have never saved 
a single soul. A church may point to the Re- 
deemer, but it cannot redeem; it may lift up 
the Saviour, but it cannot save. 

Alas! how many are trusting in the ordi- 
nances of the churches for their eternal welfare. 
It is probably safe to say that fully one-half of 
the professed Christians of the world believe 
that baptism, is in some real sense, essential to 
salvation. Many believe it takes the place of 
circumcision, notwithstanding the words of our 
text. Beyond question, the belief in the doctrine 
of baptismal regeneration is responsible for in- 
fant baptism. As a matter of fact, the confes- 
sions of faith of all denominations that practice 



150 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

infant baptism teach that baptism is, in greater 
or less degree, essential to salvation. The mo- 
ment the idea of baptismal regeneration passes, 
with it will forever pass the practice of infant 
baptism. It is quite encouraging, in this con- 
nection, to be able to state with mathematical 
certainty, that the number of infant baptisms 
is constantly decreasing, and that this un- 
scriptural rite is meeting with disfavor, even in 
the house of its friends. In the years to come, 
followers of Christ will wonder why this an- 
cient relic of baptismal regeneration was ever 
administered in the name of the Father, Son 
and Holy Ghost. 

Unfortunately, the belief in baptismal re- 
generation is not confined to those who practice 
infant baptism. The disciples of Alexander 
Campbell, now numbering more than a million, 
are thoroughly committed to this deadly doc- 
trine. The following from the pen of Alexander 
Campbell, the founder of the faith, and Prof. 
J. W. McGarvey, the late President of the Bible 
College of Transylvania University, and at the 
time of his death, the ablest expounder of this 
system, will clearly demonstrate our conten- 
tion: 

*'In my debate with Mr. Maccalla in Ken- 
tucky, 1823, on this topic, I contended that it 



SALVATION AND ITS SUBSTITUTES 151 

was a divine institution designed for putting 
the legitimate subject of it in actual possession 
of the remission of his sins — That to every be- 
lieving subject it did formally, and, ill fact, 
convey to him the forgiveness of sins. It v/as 
with much hesitation I presented this view of 
the subject at that time, because of its perfect 
novelty. I was then assured of its truth, and, I 
think, presented sufficient evidence of its cer- 
tainty. But having thought still more closely 
upon the subject, and having been necessarily 
called to consider it more fully as an essential 
part of the Christian religion, I am still better 
prepared to develop its import, and to establish 
its utility and value in the Christian religion.'* 
— The Christian Baptist, page 401. 

''And in the third place, I must shew that 
it is as plainly affirmed in the New Testament 
that God forgives men's sins in the act of im- 
mersion, as that he will raise the dead at the 
voice of the archangel, or as that Jesus Christ 
will come again to judge the world." 

I. John 2 :12 : *'I write to you, little children, 
because your sins are forgiven you for his 
name's sake." This allusion few consider cor- 
rectly; but, in my judgment, it is just equiva- 
lent to saying, I have written you, exhorting you 
little children; because you have been immersed 



152 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

into the name of the Lord Jesus. ' ' 

"In the third place, I proceed to shew that 
we have the most explicit proof that God for- 
gives sin for the name's sake of his Son or 
when the name of Jesus Christ is named upon us 
in immersion; — that in, and by, the act of im- 
mersion, so soon as our bodies are put under 
water, at that very instant our former, or ''old 
sins" are all washed away, provided only that 
we are true believers." 

"I say it is quite sufficient to shew that the 
forgiveness of sins and Christian immersion 
vvere, in their first proclamation by the holy 
apostles inseparably connected together. Peter, 
to whom was committed the keys, opened the 
kingdom of heaven in this manner, and made 
repentance, or reformation, and immersion, 
equally necessary to forgiveness." 

"I am bold, therefore, to affirm, that every 
one of them who, in the belief of what the apos- 
tle spoke, was immersed, did, in the very instant 
in which he was put under the water, receive the 
forgiveness of his sins and the gift of the Holy 
Spirit. If so, then, who will not concur with 
me in saying that Christian immersion is the 
Gospel in water." — The Christian Baptist, pp. 
416 and 417. 

''Now when a man is in Christ, his sins are 



SALVATION AND ITS SUBSTITUTES 153 

certainly forgiven, and before he is in Christ, 
they are certainly not forgiven. They are for- 
given in passing into Christ, and a part of the 
process by which one passes into Christ is the 
act of baptism; and it follows that, as he is not 
in Christ until he is baptized, nntil he is bap- 
tized he is not forgiven. . . The man who has 
not yet entered into the relation expressed by 
the word, 'into the name of the Father and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit', is yet in an 
unforgiven state, whatever may be his belief 
and his emotions ; and this relation is established 
as soon as all of his sins are forgiven; but he 
enters into this relation in the act of baptism, 
he is baptized into it, and it follows that his sins 
are forgiven in connection with his baptism. ' ' — 
Commentary on Acts. — McGarvey. Page 250. 

*'Now before a man is in the Kingdom of 
God, his sins are forgiven; and when his sins 
are forgiven, he is no longer an alien, but a cit- 
izen of that kingdom. By whatever process, 
then, he enters into that kingdom, by that or 
in that he obtains the remission of sins ; but that 
process is the birth of water and the Spirit, of 
neither alone, but of both; and therefore he 
obtains forgiveness not before, but when, he is 
baptized." 

*' These evidences establish, as clearly as any 



154 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

fact can be established, an immediate connection 
between baptism and remission of sins, and they 
show with equal clearness that the divine act of 
forgiving sins takes place when the sinner, in 
whose heart the Holy Spirit has wrought faith 
and repentance, is baptized into Christ, ' ' — Com- 
mentary of Acts. J. W. McGarvey. Pages 254, 
255. 

In the entire history of Christendom, proba- 
bly no doctrine has been responsible for the loss 
of a greater number of men and women than 
this soul-destroying do'ctrine. If the New Tes- 
tament clearly teaches anything, it teaches that 
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, 
and that the atonement was completed with the 
crucifixion of Christ at Calvary. Obviously, the 
man who believes that baptism is in anywise 
essential to salvation, does not believe that the 
blood of Christ, only, pays the debt of sin. To 
the contrary, he believes that it takes man and 
water, to make effectual the blood of Christ for 
the remission of sins. Hence it cannot be said 
that such a man is trusting in Christ as his hope 
of salvation. The very best that could be said 
is, that he is trusting in Christ plus baptism. 
According to this, Christ did not ''finish" His 
work of redemption, and we are redeemed by 
the precious blood of Christ and the sin-effacing 



SALVATION AND ITS SUBSTITUTES 155 

act of baptism. Such a faith vitiates the power 
of the atonement, and renders of no effect the 
blood of Christ. 

Whatever else we may believe, never 
let us cease to believe that the blood of 
Christ is the one and only remedy for 
sin. 

The new birth is a new creation, and 
not a reformation. There is nothing more 
tragic and pitiful than the vain efforts at 
reformation without regeneration. Reforma- 
tion may whitewash a man, but he can 
be washed white only in the blood of 
the Lamb. A disordered watch cannot be 
regulated by its hands, but in its inner- 
most parts. It is the heart, not the 
hands, that must be changed by the 
Cross of Christ. Only the Christ can give 
life to those dead in trespasses and sins. 

A man may possess all the intellectual and 
political qualifications necessary to the presi- 
dency of the United States, but he can never oc- 
cupy the White House unless he is born an 
American citizen. Senator Beck, of Kentucky, 
might have made an admirable President, but 
it would have been necessary to change the con- 
stitution before he would have been eligible to 



156 THE BxVPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

this high, office. And just so, it will be neces- 
sary to change the New Testament before any- 
one can be saved who has not been born in the 
Heavenly Kingdom. ' ' Ye must be born again, ' * 
is the unchanging mandate of the changeless 
Christ. Nations may rise and fall ; civilizations % 
may come and go, but the mandate of the Al- 
mighty remains, and the word of the Lord en- 
dureth forever. 

New views of life will come to him who has 
seen Jesus ; and the world can never be the same 
to the man who is dead to sin and alive in 
Christ Jesus. As a new creature, in Christ, he 
realizes the relative value of things; the com- 
parative worth of the here and the hereafter. 
Whatever his lot here, he rests serenely in the 
Crucified, knowing that when his day's Work is 
done, he will spend the eternal years with God. 
He no longer looks to this world for his reward, 
but to that better land of light and love and 
song. The old things have passed away, and all 
things have become new! 

Not only will his views of life be changed, 
but he will be moved by different motives to 
different deeds. He will feel that he is created 
unto good works, and it will be his joy to do 
them. Instead of being conformed to the world, 
he will be transformed by divine grace. The 



SALVATION AND ITS SUBSTITUTES 157 

things he once loved, he now hates, and he no 
longer glories in the flesh, but in the Cross of 
Christ. He feels that the form and fashion of 
this world shall pass away, and hence he seeks 
a city whose builder and maker is God. He re- 
joices with joy unspeakable and full of glory, 
that he is the child of the King, for he has been 
born into the household of heaven, and neither 
death nor hell shall rob him of his heritage. 



XI, 
CHURCH UNION. 

"And he put all things in subjection un- 
der His feet, and gave Him to be head over 
all things to the church, which is His body, 
the fulness of Him that fiUeth all in all" — 
Eph. 1:22, 23. 

Mucli has been said and written during the 
last decade concerning church union. More, 
perhaps, than any other, has this subject claimed 
the attention of a number of the denominations. 
In fact, from all that has been said, one would 
imagine that this delusive scheme would soon be 
realized. 

That church union, under certain conditions, 
is a consummation to be coveted, is not a debat- 
able question, and, therefore, will not be consid- 
ered in this connection. 

First of all, it will be well to note what 
should be assumed by the advocates of church 
union. The very idea of an amalgamation of the 
churches assumes the equality of the denomina- 
tions that are to unite. This assumption, as we 
shall see, does violence to both truth and facts. 



CHURCH UNION 159 

In other words, the assumption is uncondition- 
ally untrue. Things that differ from each other 
cannot equal the same thing or each other. The 
man who makes a union of the churches the 
chief consideration, should be willing to give 
and take in matters of doctrine. Unless he be 
willing to do this, then he is misleading in his 
statement in this behalf. Unless he is willing to 
bring about a coalition by compromise and can- 
cellation, he should not, without specific stipu- 
lations, advocate a union of the denominations. 

It may not be amiss to propound just here, a 
pertinent, though painful, question: Are the 
leaders in the movement for ecclesiastical union 
really honest in their contention? It must be 
said that thus far they have given no real evi- 
dence of their sincerity. No tentative program 
has been proposed, no basis of union suggested. 
Not one of these coalition schemers has stated 
what particular doctrine he is willing to surren- 
der to make possible the proposed denomina- 
tional get-together. Surely, it is passing strange 
that after so vast an amount of confederated 
foolishness, no one has dared to state what sac- 
rifices he is willing to make in this behalf. The 
absence of such a declaration at least raises the 
presumption that there is a sad lack of candor 
in their contention. 



160 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Imagine, if you can, a Presbyterian being 
willing to surrender the doctrine of God's sov- 
ereignty; or a Methodist, infant baptism; or a 
disciple of Alexander Campbell, baptismal re- 
mission; or an Episcopalian, the Historic Epis- 
copate ; or a Baptist, salvation by grace and be- 
liever's baptism. It will require a more vivid 
imagination than is possessed even by the union- 
tarian, to conceive of such a contingency. It 
may be replied, that no one of the denomina- 
tions would be required to give up any of the 
essentials of its faith. The question is. What do 
the various denominations consider as essentials 
of their faith? It is hardly reasonable to sup- 
pose that a denomination would have something 
in its creed that it deems unessential. Such a 
presumption carries with it the imputation of a 
woeful want of common sense. If any denomi- 
nation holds anything that is not taught in the 
Bible, such tenet should be speedily surrendered 
without any reference to church union. If, to 
the contrary, a church holds only true doctrines, 
it would be a traitor to truth to surrender any 
one of them. The truth is a sacred trust that 
we have no right to betray for any cause or 
under any circumstances. A proposal to com- 
promise one's faith is a reflection on his intelli- 
gence or his morals. 



CHUECH UNION 161 

Even should the various denominations come 
together, they could not constitute a unit, or 
union. Each would still hold his distinct and 
different doctrines. In other words, there would 
be only a nominal union, which, in its last analy- 
sis, is no union. Our Campbellite friends have 
earnestly contended for organic union on a 
name, and are themselves divided on the use of 
the church organ, thus defeating ''organic*' 
union. If, then, the union is to be only in name, 
which it must be, unless there is a surrender of 
faith, manifestly such a union would symbolize 
a falsehood. Such a curious and unholy combi- 
nation would be a mere make-believe and un- 
worthy of a Christian man or woman. 

The current craze for ecclesiastical combina- 
tion rests primarily upon sentiment. Such a 
sentiment is both natural and pleasing, and 
withal well calculated to catch the unwary. The 
average man would rather agree than dis- 
agree with his brother, especially in a cause in 
which they are mutually interested. Here, as 
elsewhere, the line of least resistance presents a 
powerful plea, and one not easily withstood. 
And this provokes the declaration that senti- 
ment should never become a principle of action. 
The attempt to make sentiment take the place of 
conscience and Christ has resulted in confusion 



162 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

worse confounded. Unholy spiritual affinities 
are, perhaps, worse than social affinities. Some- 
times the one may lead to the other, as was the 
case with Samson and David. 

Entangling and unholy alliances, or rather 
mesalliances, have probably done more than all 
else to destroy Baptist stamina and retard Bap- 
tist progress. Baptists are essentially strict con- 
structionists, and their denominational doings 
should correspond with their faith. If I am 
unwilling to permit infant baptism in person, 
why should I bid it Godspeed by proxy. A doc- 
trine or practice is true or false, right or wrong, 
Scriptural or unscriptural, and we should gov- 
ern ourselves accordingly. 

Another motive, and, we regret to say, an 
unworthy one, that actuates the contenders for 
church union, is to out-general others engaged 
in the same gracious game. In this regard, spir- 
itual diplomacy has surpassed itself during the 
last decade. Desiring to make a fair show in 
the flesh, and likewise in the spirit, the leaders 
in this line have, to put it mildly, reached the 
limit. With the pleasing pretense that there is 
*'no difference," Baptists are affectionately re- 
quested to surrender the doctrine of God^s sov- 
ereignty, salvation by grace and believer's bap- 
tism. This presumption, upon the part of some, 



CHURCH UNION 163 

seems to be that the fundamental doctrines of 
the Scriptures are exchangeable and inter- 
changeable quantities, and may be held or re- 
linquished at pleasure. We did not so receive 
them; neither can we so impart them. 

Still another, and perhaps the most impor- 
tant class, base their advocacy for church union 
upon the teaching of the Lord's prayer for 
unity. A very little thought should readily con- 
vince anyone that there is utterly nothing in 
this prayer that has even the remotest reference 
to the question of church union. Beyond ques- 
tion, the prayer is for unity, but not union. At 
the time this prayer was made, the various de- 
nominations with their multitude of conflicting 
doctrines were not in existence. Somehow, it 
seems impossible for the advocates of church 
union to differentiate between unity and union. 
A scant knowledge of the meaning of words 
should serve to make clear the radical difference 
in their meaning. 

The prayer made by the Saviour, and which 
is the great proof text relied on by the union- 
tarians, is found in John 17:21, and is as 
follows : 

' ' That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, 
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 



164 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

one in ns ; that the world may believe that thou 
hast sent me. ' ' 

Concerning this text, Meyers, who, as a com- 
mentator, has no superior, says : ' ^ In his prayer 
for the disciples, for their preservation and 
sanctification (verse 11-15) Jesus now includes 
all who shall believe on him. The purposes for 
which he also includes these: that all (all my 
believing ones and others) may be one (ethically 
in likeness of disposition, of love, of endeavor, 
etc.)'' 

Olshausen gives the following interpretation 
of the passage : ' ' The Eedeemer now adds to the 
two petitions, for the preservation and sanctifi- 
cation of his own, the final request for the glori- 
fication of those preserved and sanctified. In 
presenting this last prayer, Christ immediately 
extends his view. ... In reference to this glori- 
fication, the Saviour first enters more largely 
into the subject, briefiy touched upon verse 11, 
viz.: the unity of believers. This unity of be- 
lievers in love is intended to be a witness to the 
world for the divine mission of Christ. . . . All 
attempts to bring it about in any other way, by 
force, instruction, or persuasion, have to this 
day proved abortive, and they always will be so 
in time to come." 

All other commentaries that I have consulted 



CHURCH UNION 165 

give about the same meaning to this passage. 
Indeed, I do not know of a single one that at- 
tempts to make the passage mean, or teach, in 
any way church union. It will be seen, there- 
fore, that the very text upon which the union- 
tarians have based their plea in no way sup- 
ports their theory. It would seem that honest 
and intelligent men would cease to quote this 
passage to bolster up their plea. 

Obviously, before there can ever be church 
union, there must be doctrinal agreement, at 
least on the fundamentals. This can come only 
from a study of the Scriptures and a willingness 
to make the New Testament the only rule of 
faith and practice. Admittedly, the Lord has 
made known His will concerning us, and just as 
surely His will may be known to the honest 
seeker after truth. For example, it is impossi- 
ble to express in human speech anything clearer 
than the statement that there is ' ' one Lord, one 
faith and one baptism." According to the con- 
sensus of the scholarship of the world, immer- 
sion is the original mode of baptism, as com- 
manded by Christ and practiced by the Apos- 
tles. Now, then, why should not all Christians 
who are honest in their plea for church union, 
be willing to unite, at least on believer's bap- 
tism? Until a willingness to do this is mani- 



166 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

fested by those who have perverted the ordi- 
nance, it is the climax of folly to plead for 
union. As it appears to the speaker, until this 
much is conceded, Baptists cannot conscien- 
tiously consider the question in any way. 

It is absolutely true that Baptists are in a 
position to offer the most practical and only 
Scriptural basis for church union. They have 
a baptism that all other denominations acknowl- 
edge as Scriptural, and hence other denomina- 
tions have only to surrender a sentiment to ac- 
cept it, while to accept theirs. Baptists would 
have to surrender a principle. All believers 
will admit that believer's baptism, as practiced 
by Baptists, is valid, and all that remains is for 
others to show their faith by their works. Now, 
then, if our uniontarian friends are not playing 
to the galleries, they have the opportunity of a 
life time to show their sincerity, by making be- 
liever's baptism the first plank in the platform 
of church union. 

While waiting for the world to come to a 
knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, 
let Baptists continue to contend for the truth 
once for all delivered to the saints. In our con- 
tention, we are cheered and sustained by the 
promise that the ''gates of Hades'* shall not 
prevail against the churches of Christ. In the 



CHURCH UNION. 167 

past, prison, fire and sword have been used to 
blot out the true churches of Christ. These hav- 
ing failed, the seductive song of the siren has 
been invoked to win us from our steadfastness, 
and, sad to say, with more success than the pro- 
gram of imprisonment and death. 

Oh, for a mighty revival of church love. God 
help us to sing and live the wise words of the 
old song — 

"I love Thy Kingdom, Lord, 
The house of thine abode. 
The Church our blessed Redeemer saved 
With His own precious blood." 



XII. 

ELECTION. 

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did 
predestinate to be conformed to the image 
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn 
among many brethren." 

"Moreover, whom he did predestinate, 
them he also called: and whom he called, 
them he also justified: and whom he justi- 
fied, them he also glorified."— Rom. 8:29, 30. 

This great and precious doctrine, though 
sadly neglected in the preaching of most min- 
isters, is the first, final and only hope of salva- 
tion. The very fact that this doctrine is not 
popular, has caused many to remain silent con- 
cerning it. 

Personally, I have never felt that I had any 
right to neglect a doctrine because, forsooth, it 
would not be graciously received. Christ and 
His doctrine were alike rejected, and it is hardly 
to be expected that the servant should receive 
better treatment than his Master. If we fail to 
preach the truth, how shall we escape the pen- 



ELECTION 169 

alty prescribed? ''If any man shall add unto 
these things, God shall add unto him the 
plagues that are written in this book. And if any 
man shall take away from the words of the book 
of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 
out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, 
and from the things which are written in this 
book. 

The question then is not, Is the doctrine 
popular, but, is it true? If false, it should be 
eliminated from every confession of faith; if 
true, as occasion demands^ it should be preached 
from every pulpit in Christendom. We dare 
not say that it is dangerous to teach any doc- 
trine that is taught in God's Word. 

It is probable that this doctrine has been 
somewhat less acceptable, because it is com- 
monly coupled with the name of "Calvin". 
This has caused many to ascribe it to a human 
origin, and given to it a denominational setting, 
that has probably prejudiced not a few against 
it. While it is true that John Calvin demon- 
strated and magnified the doctrine of God's 
sovereignty with unsurpassed perspicuity and 
power, yet the truth of election was not origi- 
nated by, or dependent upon, him, or any other 
man. Baptists were preaching the elective pur- 
poses of God through riches of grace for cen- 



170 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

turies before Calvin was born. If any human 
name should be chosen to designate this doc- 
trine, it would be more appropriate to refer to 
it as "Paulism" rather than "Calvinism". 

A clear statement of the doctrine should go 
far towards its acceptance. It does not teach 
that God fore-ordains or predestines anyone to 
perdition. To the contrary, God takes no de- 
light in the death of the wicked, and would that 
all men might come unto Him and live. It is a 
fact that the doctrine of election never turned 
anyone away from God, who wished to serve 
Him. None of the lost can ever reproach God 
with being unjust, though many will glorify 
Him for His great and undeserved mercy. 
Those who are lost will be the first to say 
"Amen" to their own condemnation. 

It does not mean that the Atonement was 
not sufficient for the salvation of every sinner 
under the sun. It is a fact, however, that it is 
efficient only to those who trust Christ for their 
salvation. It is our duty to preach the Gospel 
to every creature, and everyone who believes 
the Gospel, may be assured that he is one of 
the elect. I may say further, that I have never 
known a man who really desired to be saved 
who was not saved, and certainly anyone who 
does not desire to be saved, deserves to be lost. 



ELECTION 171 

This doctrine does teach, that in creation, 
redemption and preservation, God has a pur- 
pose and a plan, and that His purpose and plan 
will prevail. Certainly, someone must be sov- 
ereign, and in the nature of the case, it must 
be God, man or the devil. Surely, there is a 
Sovereign, and just as surely that Sovereign is 
the God of all truth and grace. God is not a 
non-resident of this world, and there is 

"A Divinity that shapes our ends. 
Rough-hew them how we will." 

By common consent, omniscience is one of 
the attributes of God. This being true, God 
must have foreknown all that would come to 
pass. God cannot foreknow anything that is not 
a fact, and if He foreknows an event, that event 
must come to pass. A contrary reasoning would 
be equivalent to charging God with a lack of 
knowledge, or a mistake, either of which is un- 
thinkable. Just here, the frank admission is 
made that from an earthly angle of vision, there 
are apparent difficulties attending this doctrine. 
Yet the difficulties attending the doctrine of 
God's sovereignty are infinitely less than those 
attending the doctrine of the sovereignty of 
man. 

This doctrine means much more than fore- 



172 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

knowledge. It means that God has predesti- 
nated, chosen, called and justified a certain 
number unto eternal life. This, too, not on ac- 
count of any merit, but according to His Sov- 
ereign will and pleasure. He has not chosen 
us because we were holy, but we are elected that 
we might become holy. This is clearly taught 
in the following verse : ' ' Not by works of right- 
eousness which we have done, but according to 
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of re- 
generation, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
Titus 3:5. It may be replied that this would 
make God partial; but even so, has not God the 
right to be partial? If God is just to all, has 
He not the right to be partial ? Has He not the 
right to do as He will with His own ? Hath not 
the potter power over the clay, of the same 
lump to make one vessel unto honor, and an- 
other unto dishonor ''Nay, but, man, who 
art thou that repliest against God? Shall the 
thing formed say to him that formed it, "Why 
hast thou made me thus?" 

The truth of this doctrine is suggested by 
analogy. It may be true, as often asserted, that 
every man has a chance, but all will admit that 
every man has not an equal chance. The child 
that is born of criminal parents in a back alley 
does not have an equal opportunity with the 



ELECTION 173 

child with, better heredity and environment. 
This is equally as true of nations as it is of in- 
dividuals. Out of all the nations of the earth, 
God chose the Jews as His own peculiar people. 
It is not our business to inquire why, but suffi- 
cient for us to know that it was ''according to 
His good pleasure". One will hardly claim 
that China or Africa has the same chance for 
great achievements as America. There can be 
no doubt that nature and grace show favors 
without explanation or apology. It is the old, 
old story of ' ' Jacob have I loved and Esau have 
I hated". 

Here, as elsewhere, our final appeal is 
to the Book. What, then, saith the Scripture? 
''And except those days should be short- 
ened, there should no flesh be saved, but for 
the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." 
Matt. 24:22. "For there shall arise false 
Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great 
signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were 
possible, they shall deceive the very elect." 
Matt. 24:24. "Then shall the King say unto 
them on his right hand. Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25: 
34. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen 
you, and ordained you, that ye should go and 



174 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should 
remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the 
Father in my name, he may give it you." John 
15:16. "For I have given unto them the words 
which thou gavest me; and they have received 
them, and have known surely that I came out 
from thee, and they have believed that thou 
didst send me. I pray for them : I pray not for 
the world, but for them which thou hast given 
me; for they are thine." Matt. 17 :8, 9. "And 
when the Gentiles heard this, they vv^ere glad, 
and glorified the Word of the Lord; and as 
many as were ordained to eternal life believed." 
Acts 13:48. "For v/hom he did foreknow, he 
also did predestinate to be conformed to the im- 
age of his Son, that he might be the firstborn 
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did 
predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he 
called, them he also justified : and whom he jus- 
tified, them he also glorified. "What shall we 
say, then, to these things? If God be for us, 
who can be against us ? He that spared not His 
own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how 
shall He not with him freely give us all things ? 
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's 
elect ? It is God that justifieth. ' ' Komans 8 :29. 
33. "For we are his workmanship, created in 
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath 



ELECTION 175 

before ordained that we should walk in them." 
Eph. 2:10. "For God hath not appointed us to 
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus 
Christ." I. Thess. 5:9. "But we are bound to 
give thanks always to God for you, brethren be- 
loved of the Lord, because God hath from the 
beginning chosen you to salvation through 
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the 
truth." It Thess. 2 :13. 

In the face of such overwhelming proof from 
the Scriptures, we can only rest in the eternal 
purposes of a loving Heavenly Father ; knowing 
that He doeth all things well. The Lord rules, 
let the earth rejoice ! We are well aware that 
the charge is often made that this makes of man, 
a machine and prevents good works. As a 
matter of fact, the exact contrary is true. "With 
few exceptions, the men who have dominated 
the religious thinking of mankind, have believed 
and taught this doctrine. A great majority of 
the world's greatest missionaries have believed 
it with their whole heart. Spurgeon, than 
whom there has probably not risen a greater 
since the death of Paul, firmly believed and con- 
tinually taught this precious tenet of our faith. 

This doctrine would seem to be a consolation 
to Christ. Obviously, Christ did not die on an 
uncertainty. He knew that His blood would 



176 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

not be shed in vain. What a joy to know that 
He had ''lost none whom God had given Him, 
save the son of perdition." He paid a stagger- 
ing price, but He knew the price was not paid 
in vain. It is said that when Dwight L. 
Moody had preached a sermon in the outskirts 
of London, Mr. Sankey sang the "Ninety and 
Nine." A few moments later, a little Gipsy boy 
said, "Mister, won't you sing that song again?" 
Mr. Sankey again sang the song. After many 
years, Gipsy Smith came to this country to hold 
revival meetings. While here, he visited Mr. 
Sankey, now old and blind. Bowing by Mr. 
Sankey 'a chair, Gipsy Smith said: "Now, 
Brother Sankey, sing the song you sang for me 
when I was a little Gipsy boy, in the long ago." 
As of old, he sang: 

"There were ninety and nine that safely lay, 

In the shelter of the fold. 
But one was out on the hills away, 

Far off from the gates of gold. 
Away on the mountain he heard its cry, 

Was sick and helpless and ready to die 

Was sick and helpless and ready to die." 

"For none of the ransomed ever knew 
How deep were the waters crossed. 

Or how dark was the night the Lord went througli 
To save His sheep that were lost." 



ELECTION 177 

Even as did Christ, he saw of the * * travail of 
his soul and was satisfied". 

This doctrine is likewise an unspeakable con- 
solation to the believer. It makes salvation all 
of grace, thus humbling pride and excluding 
boasting. It minimizes man, but glorifies God. 
"Without it, salvation <30uld not be a certainty 
with any man. Panoplied with the imperial 
power of the assurance, that his peace, calling 
and election are sure, he can defy all the powers 
of death, hell and the grave, and rest serenely 
on the grace that never fails. "Without the dy- 
namic of this doctrine, Christian assurance is 
impossible, and apostasy inevitable. It gives 
dignity to the Christian calling and lifts Chris- 
tian life out of the realm of chance, and places 
it in the unfailing purposes of God. 

Let no recalcitrant sinner attempt to justify 
his wickedness by the doctrine of election. We 
are commanded to preach the Gospel to all the 
world, and everyone that repents and believes, 
shall be saved. There is not a sinner in all the 
world who is willing to trust Christ that cannot 
be saved. No sinner who has not honestly and 
earnestly sought Christ and been unable to find 
Him, who has humbly asked forgiveness, and 
failed to receive it, can excuse his lost estate on 
account of the doctrine of election. Christ com- 



178 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

manded the preaching of the Gospel, even to 
those who crucified Him. To the man who 
placed upon his brow a crown of thorns, the 
apostle offered a crown of life. To those who 
drove the nails through His quivering flesh, was 
offered salvation full and free. To him who 
plunged the spear in His side, was offered the 
water of the fountain of life freely. 

The grandeur and glory of this great doc- 
trine will appear only in all its beauty, power 
and blessing when we join with the "mighty 
multitude which no man can number", in 
ascribing honor and praise to God the Father, 
who called us according to His own good will, 
and to God the Son, in whom we were chosen 
before the foundation of the world, and to God 
the Holy Spirit, through whom we have sanc- 
tification. For now. He has fulfilled His own 
words, *'And he shall send His angels with a 
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather 
His elect from the four winds, and from one end 
of heaven to the other". 



XIII. 

THE DOCTRINE OF MISSIONS. 

"Come over into Macedonia, and lielp 
us."— Acts 16:9. 

The doctrine of missions is the old, old story 
of Jesus and His love. The earthly philosophy 
of missions is the burning heart and the helping 
hand — the desire that others shall share our 
blessings. Many a poor, lost heathen has, at 
heart, been a missionary, though not a Chris- 
tian missionary. Every man or woman who, 
with unselfish motive, goes or sends, has the in- 
stincts of the missionary. Yet only the God-sent 
man can be a missionary of the Cross. 

It is the motive that, in the last analysis, de- 
cides the character and worth of the deed. The 
primary and fundamental motive for missions 
is God in Christ reconciling the world unto Him- 
self. If we have been reconciled to God, through 
Him, we will wish to have a part in the ministry 
of reconciliation. Gratitude ^'or individual re- 
demption is the divine dynamic for missionary 



180 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

endeavor, and the Cross is the cradle of the 
great mission movement now thrilling the heart 
of the redeemed. A saved man not only be- 
lieves in salvation for himself, but for others. 
When Christ gave His life for us, He made it 
mandatory that we live and long for others. To 
see Christ is equivalent to a desire to show Him 
to others. When Christ comes into the heart, 
that heart will go out to the heathen, at home 
and abroad. The heart is not so constructed that 
it can contain Christ in selfish silence. It longs 
to tell the story of redeeming love to a lost and 
dying world. To know God is not only to love 
God, but to love those for whom He gave His 
Son. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so"; 
yea, they will say so. It would be as easy to 
quench the fires of Vesuvius as to still the mis- 
sionary longing of the regenerate soul. 

Another motive for missions, is the love of 
man. If we say we love God whom we have not 
seen, we cannot deny our love to our brother 
whom we have seen. Love for man is the con- 
sequent of our love for the Saviour of men. 
We love Christ because He first loved us, and we 
love others because He first loved them. We 
love them not on account of their loveliness, but 
on account of Christ 's love for them. If we love 
"every creature," we will wish the "good 



THE DOCTRINE OP MISSIONS 181 

news" carried to every creature. Whether we 
believe it or not, the whole world is akin. Adam 
is the father of ns all, which makes ns brothers, 
according to the flesh. To deny this fact is to 
ask with Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" 
The question, ' ' "Who is my neighbor ? ' ' has been 
answered, once for all, by the Son of God, our 
Saviour. "If ye love me, keep my command- 
ments," and one of these commandments is to 
* 'preach the Gospel to every creature." Love 
will hear and must heed the cry of the centuries, 
"Come over and help us!" 

The love of our country should prompt us to 
missionary activity. The perpetuity of our civ- 
ilization depends upon the spread of the Gospel. 
The heathen nations will be Christianized, or 
America will be paganized. Thousands, opposed 
to our Government and our God, are coming to 
our country. Either they will influence us or 
we shall influence them. Their ideals, or ours, 
must prevail. 

All other democracies have failed becaus? 
they have not been predicated upon New Tes- 
tament principles. Should we forsake these 
precious principles upon which our civic and 
social institutions are founded, we are destined 
to follow the failure of all previous attempts at 
self-government. Our civilization is as depend- 



182 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

ent upon the missionary spirit as the Christian- 
ity upon which it is founded. The genius of 
our institutions must be taught to others or 
perish with us. Propagation or deterioration 
is the essential logic of our situation. Heathen- 
ism is not only a problem but a peril, and one 
that we cannot longer ignore. If we would look 
to the life of our nation, we must look to the 
lives of other nations. Self-preservation de- 
mands Christian intervention. And just here, 
it is well to remember that the only way our 
nation can preserve its present power is by tak- 
ing the Gospel to all the world. In the last 
analysis, it is give and live, or take and die. If 
our flag is to continue to wave over the land of 
the free and the home of the brave, we must 
practice the Gospel at home and preach it 
abroad. 

The fact that Christ has commanded mis- 
sions, should be sufficient for every Christian. 
Obedience to Christ is impossible without mis- 
sionary endeavor. The command is to ''preach 
the Gospel to every creature," and the only 
question is. Will we obey His command? He 
has said that if we love Him we will keep His 
commands. So, then, if we love Him we will 
keep His commands, and we cannot keep His 
commands without doing missionary work. The 



THE DOCTRINE OF MISSIONS 183 

command to go into all the world and preach 
the Gospel to every creature is as clear and bind- 
ing as the command to be baptized. 

In my judgment, no one would have ever 
doubted the missionary obligation had it not 
been for the cost entailed in fulfilling the obli- 
gation. It is the price, and not the principle, of 
missions, that gives offense. It is not that we 
love missions less, but the dollar more. It is not 
that we particularly object to sending the Gospel 
abroad, but we specially prefer keeping our 
dollars at home. 

Covetousness is the consuming curse of our 
century, and the crux of the contention against 
missions. Covetousness, which is idolatry, is the 
chief cause for the continuation of idolatry in 
heathen lands. The time is not far distant when 
a confession of faith will be synonymous with a 
missionary contribution. The man who will not 
preach the Gospel with his purse should not pro- 
fess it with his lips. If God's people could once 
realize that all they are and all they have be- 
longs to God, and that they should administer 
their possessions as stewards for the real owner, 
a better day would dawn for a benighted world. 
Think of it! last year, the American people 
spent more for chewing gum than they did for 
home and foreign missions, and yet we are told 



184 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

that our people are doing all that they reason- 
ably can for this commanding cause. He who 
has grace in his heart should manifest that grace 
by gracious giving. 

The time has come when conscience should 
have its proper place in the domain of missions. 
The man who robs God, to the hurt of the un- 
godly, should feel the sting of conscience as 
keenly as though he had robbed his fellowman 
It is not a question of whether we will give to 
missions, but will we pay our debts to Him who 
created us, redeemed us, and made us all we are, 
and gave us all we have. Our debt is to Deity, 
though humanity is to share its benefits. No 
debt, therefore, can be more pressing or sacred 
than the mission debt. It should not be consid- 
ered a question of cost, but of worth to a dying 
world. Many of us, God has not required to go, 
or send one of our children, and the least that 
we can do, is to send our money. Can we, then, 
with a clear conscience, withhold our . means 
from this God-ordained work? 

Surely, the time is at hand when principle 
should supplant the place of sentiment in our 
missionary operations. The witchery of words, 
or effervescent emotion, will not constitute an 
abiding basis for mission work and offering. 
The whole subject should be placed in the realm 



THE DOCTRINE OF MISSIONS 185 

of obedience to the commands of Christ. The 
imperative of missious is our undeniable obli- 
gation to God. 

In spite of some discouraging features, the 
prospect for mission conquest was never 
brighter. There is a mighty moving of the 
hearts of the redeemed to the lost millions of 
earth. Beyond doubt, a better day is dawning, 
and the day is not distant when the Gospel shall 
be preached as a witness to all the world. Mul- 
titudes, Multitudes in the Valley of Decision! 
The clouds are lifting from the valleys, and the 
shadows from the hills — 

**Tihe morning light is breaking, 

The darkness disappears; 
The sons of earth are waking 

To penitential tears." 



XIV. 

BAPTISTS AND UNION MEETINGS. 

"Shall two walk together, except they 
have agreed?" — Amos 3:3. 

I have been requested to state my objections 
to Baptists' entering union meetings. In com- 
plying with this quite reasonable request, I may 
say that, as I see it, the reasons why Baptists 
should not engage in such meetings are several 
and insuperable. 

First of all, when a Baptist Church enters 
a union meeting, it does by such an act, ex- 
pressly or impliedly, declare that the various 
denominations are all equally churches of 
Christ. Obviously, this is equivalent to affirm- 
ing that the doctrines of other denominations 
are of equal merit with their own. "We are 
hardly ready to believe that Baptists are pre- 
pared to say that sprinkling is as scriptural as 
immersion, or that the doctrine of apostasy is as 
good as that of the final perseverance of the 
saints, or that baptism to wash away sins is as 



BAPTISTS AND UNION MEETINGS 187 

valid as believers' baptism. Probably few Bap- 
tists can be found who will affirm, that doctrines 
antithetic to their own are as scriptural as their 
own, yet this is exactly what they do say when 
they enter into union meetings with other de- 
nominations. 

"We believe it an incontrovertible truth, and 
one that is commonly conceded, that a union 
meeting is an emphatic endorsation of the 
church-branch theory. It is a notable fact that 
the majority of those who participate in such 
meetings are supporters of the church-branch 
theory. This theory is the prolific parent of a 
multitude of hurtful heresies, and if carried in 
practice to its logical conclusion, will surely 
sound the death-knell of Baptist churches. If 
other denominations are as scriptural as Bap- 
tist churches, one is nothing less than a simple- 
ton to incur the odium and bear the reproach 
of being a Baptist. 

Another exceedingly serious objection to 
Baptists' entering union meetings, is that in so 
doing, they tacitly agree not to preach their 
distinctive doctrines. These doctrines we hold 
as vital, and as constituting the greatest justi- 
fication for our existence. To suppress them is 
to forfeit our right to exist as a separate and 
peculiar people. No gentleman, much less a 



188 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

Christian, will preach a distinctive and divisive 
doctrine in a union meeting. Such an act would 
not only be a breach of taste, but of ethics. We 
do not hesitate to say that were we to enter a 
union meeting, which we have never done, and 
with our present light, never expect to do, we 
would ''tote fair," and studiously avoid any- 
thing concerning Christ or His truth that could 
fairly be construed to be of a controversial na- 
ture. To do this would involve a compromise of 
Christ and His teaching, that to my mind is not 
only unspeakable, but unthinkable. To avoid 
such a situation we prefer to do the work which 
we believe God has given us to do, and to do 
it in a way which we believe is well pleasing 
in His sight. To obviate the necessity of com- 
promise, and to escape entangling alliances, we 
prefer to attend to our own business and leave 
others lovingly alone. 

Another weighty argument against the union 
meeting is the fact that it has been thoroughly 
tried out and found wanting. It is an undenia- 
ble fact that a large portion of those who pro- 
fess faith in such meetings never connect them- 
selves with any church, and when they do, many 
of them often prove a burden rather than a 
blessing to the churches they join. The results 
of these meetings have been discredited by all 



BAPTISTS AND UNION MEETINGS 189 

denominations, and more and more the churches 
are fighting shy of such efforts. The whole 
truth is, that a number of preachers would re- 
fuse to go into such meetings were they not 
afraid of public sentiment and their own 
churches. By a sptcious process of reasoning, 
they bring themselves to believe that their 
churches would suffer greater harm by holding 
themselves aloof from union efforts. In other 
words, they prefer getting into the band-wagon 
to taking chances of being run over by it. 
My answer to such a course of conduct would be 
that the whole question is one of principle and 
not of expediency. In my day, on more than 
one occasion, the attempt has been made to 
battle-whang us into such meetings, but we 
have steadfastly refused to be cajoled or co- 
erced into these enterprises. 

Another, and, if possible, still more serious 
objection to union meetings is that in the very 
nature of the case, a union meeting is impossible. 
I make bold to say that there is no such thing 
as a real, genuine union meeting. A union meet- 
ing presupposes that the parties to the meeting 
are united in purpose and effort. That this is 
true of the several denominations engaged in a 
so-called union meeting, no one can affirm. A 
real Baptist should, and would, hope that every 



190 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

convert in such a meeting would join a Baptist 
Church. Certainly, other denominations would 
be justified in cherishing a similar hope. In 
other words, each denomination concerned in 
the combined effort would like to have the lion's 
share of the converts. As a matter of fact, there 
is often a scramble and unkind feelings over 
this very question. Evidently, the parties to 
such a performance are not agreed in heart or 
hope. Besides, a real union presupposes not 
only an identity of interests, but an identity of 
essence and quality. "We may unite a man and 
a woman, but not a man and a monkey. Two 
mules and two oxen do not make four mules or 
four oxen. To further demonstrate that a union 
meeting is an absolute impossibility, we chal- 
lenge anyone to state a plan of salvation that 
will be acceptable to Baptists, Methodists, Pres- 
byterians and Campbellites. And yet it is not 
an uncommon thing to see this aggregation 
hooked up in a combined effort, trying to make 
the world believe that they are agreed on the 
plan of salvation. At best, the union meeting 
symbolizes an agreement that does not exist, and 
cannot exist until there are radical changes. 

For example, we are commanded to preach 
the duty of baptism. That immersion only is 
baptism is a closed question with Baptists. It 



BAPTISTS AND UNION MEETINGS 191 

follows, therefore, that Baptists believe they are 
commanded to preach immersion. This being 
true, should a Baptist preacher place himself in 
a position where he is forced to disobey a plain 
command of Christ? If he dared preach the 
duty of a believer to be immersed, the imagi- 
nary union would be quickly broken. The only 
possible excuse for a Baptist preacher's entering 
a union meeting would be a Imowledge of the 
fact that his preaching would break up the 
meeting. But even to make this excuse avail- 
able, he should give notice, in advance, of the 
character of the preaching he expected to do. 
Should he do this, he would not be permitted to 
enter the meeting. 

If it be a fact, and it is, that a man tacitly 
agrees to remain silent on certain distinctive 
doctrines, in a union meeting, would it not be 
well for all parties concerned to enter into a 
written agreement as to what particular doc- 
trine or doctrines they are not to preach ? Would 
it be any more reprehensible to sign an agree- 
ment not to preach a certain doctrine than to 
have a tacit understanding not to do it? Cer- 
tainly, if one is engaged in an enterprise in 
which he is expected to suppress a part of what 
he believes to be the Gospel, he owes it to him- 
self and others to state how much he expects 



192 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

to suppress. This is a fair statement of the 
facts, and one to which many will conform in 
theory, but not in practice. 

Another very pertinent question is, If the 
various denominations can unite for thirty days, 
why not indefinitely? Every argument for a 
union meeting is an argument for church union 
by compromise and cancellation. If church 
union is good for thirty days, why not for five 
years? and if for five years, why not for all 
time? We may as well learn, first as last, that 
differences cannot be eradicated by suppression 
or denial. And while no one regrets more than 
the speaker, the deplorable divisions among be- 
lievers, deception and dissimulation are even 
worse than division. Specific statement and 
contention, with fervent prayer for divine guid- 
ance, is our only hope for such doctrinal agree- 
ment as will permit us to labor together con- 
scientiously and consistently. 

Until the various denominations can see, eye 
to eye, and face to face, let them pursue in love 
what they believe to be their God-given paths, 
though these paths may separate them one from 
another. 



XY. 

THE AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE. 

"Go ye therefore, and teacli all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." — 
Matt. 28:19. 

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism."— 
Eph. 4:5. 

That the authority to baptize was given by 
Christ to some one, will be admitted by all. The 
only question, then, to be determined is. To 
whom was this authority given? The proper 
answer to this question is not only desirable on 
its own account, but for the peaceful and per- 
manent settlement of other questions that have 
logically grown out of it. On these questions, 
excellent brethren of equal faith and learning 
have differed, and at times, to the disturbing of 
our brotherhood. 

The speaker believes, and the more he has 
studied the question, the more strongly he be- 
lieves that the comnu^ion to baptize was de- 



194 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

livered to the ch-arch, and should therefore be 
restricted to the church. And this raises the 
question as to what constitutes a scriptural 
church. Many will agree that the authority to 
baptize was given to the churches, reserving to 
themselves the right to define a church. It will 
be admitted, if the various denominations are all 
true churches of Christ, they have a perfect 
right to administer the ordinances. If the 
church branch theory is true, the question of 
alien baptism can never arise, as the baptism 
of each of them would equal the baptism ad- 
ministered by the other. 

Baptists, generally, hold that baptism is a 
church ordinance, and therefore is to be admin- 
istered by Baptist churches. Our practice also is 
in perfect conformity with our faith, as every 
candidate for baptism at our hands is voted 
upon, and if accepted, his or her baptism is au- 
thorized by the church. If baptism is a church 
ordinance, then the authority to administer it 
must be restricted to the church, for, if taken 
beyond the church, it ceases to be a church or- 
dinance. If, to the contrary, it is not a church 
ordinance, then all our churches have long 
been engaged in the sinful practice of usurping 
authority, and should at once cease to exercise 
this authority, and never again, under any cir- 



THE AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE 195 

cumstanees, authorize the baptism of anyone. It 
is, or it is not, a church ordinance. If it be a 
church ordinance, let the churches alone exer- 
cise it; if it be not, let them cease to claim or 
practice it. Churches should not be held re- 
sponsible for the preservation of an ordinance 
not controlled by them. 

If the authority to baptize does not rest 
with the churches, with whom does it rest? If 
the authority to baptize has been committed to 
the preachers, then they alone should authorize 
and administer it, and in turn the churches 
should cease to usurp the preacher's authority. 
Why should a pastor recommend a candidate 
to the church for baptism, if the pastor has the 
right to pass on the candidate's fitness for bap- 
tism? 

If it be claimed that the ordinance of bap- 
tism has been committed to the individual 
Christian, then baptism becomes an individual 
ordinance, and can be administered by any 
Christian man,, or woman, anywhere and under 
all circumstances. Nor should the church or 
preacher take from the individual his rights in 
the premises. Surely Christ has committed the 
ordinance to some one, or some class, and if so, 
let this one, or this class, exercise the authority 
given them. If it be claimed that Christ author- 



196 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

ized baptism, but did not commit it to anyone in 
particular, then no one can claim authority to 
administer it, and the ordinance should be 
promptly abolished. 

Thus it appears that the advocates of alien 
baptism are forced, by the logic of the situation, 
to the position that the conscience of the in- 
dividual is the final test of the validity of bap- 
tism. Naturally enough, this is the usual argu- 
ment that is offered to sustain the doctrine. As- 
suming then, for the sake of argument, that the 
validity of baptism is to be determined by the 
conscience of the one to whom it is administered, 
it will readily appear that the argument not 
only proves too much for its advocates, but it 
is a clear case of reductio ad dbsurdum. For 
example, should a candidate for membership 
apply to a Baptist church, and state that his 
conscience is satisfied with his baptism, the 
church would be precluded from rejecting his 
baptism, whether that baptism was by sprink- 
ling or pouring, or for the remission of sins. A 
fair sample of the application of this doctrine 
of conscience-baptism was afforded by a Baptist 
church in Boston, which recently received 
quite a number on their sprinkling for baptism. 
This naturally came about by substituting con- 



I'HE AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE 197 

science for a command of Christ, and sentiment 
for divine authority. 

Another fatal objection to receiving alien 
baptism is that to do so forces ns to surrender the 
doctrine of restricted communion. We cannot 
consistently keep one from the Lord's table on 
account of not being baptized and then receive 
the same baptism when offered to our church. 
If his baptism is not sufficient to entitle him to 
the Lord's Supper, it should not be sufficient to 
entitle him to full membership in the church 
of which the Lord's Supper is only a part. If 
he is entitled to the whole, he is evidently en- 
titled to all the parts. 

It will not suffice to say that we exclude them 
from the Lord's Supper on the ground that they 
are members of unscriptural churches. The 
fact that we receive their baptism is conclusive 
evidence that we deem their churches scriptural. 
If they are not scriptural churches, then they 
have no right to administer baptism, and 
we should, therefore, reject their baptism when 
offered us. Neither scripturally nor logically 
can we acknowledge their baptism and then 
deny them the Supper. Anything then that 
comes into direct conflict with an accepted Bap- 
tist doctrine must, among Baptists at least, be 
rejected. 



198 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD- 

To admit that other churches differing from 
us in faith and polity, are scriptural churches, 
as many do, leads to ' ' confusion worse confound- 
ed". It forces us into conflict with another 
well established Baptist custom, that of ordain- 
ing ministers who come to us from other de- 
nominations. If they come to us from scrip- 
tural churches, then their ordinations are as 
valid as ours, and it is both sinful and foolish 
for us to insist on ordaining them. So far as 
the literature of the subject extends there is 
not a single instance of a Baptist church's sanc- 
tioning the ordination of a different denomina- 
tion. We should at least be consistent, and to 
be so we must be scriptural. If alien baptism 
is from heaven, then our churches should preach 
and practice it; if it be of man, we should re- 
ject it. A majority of the cases of alien bap- 
tism that are received by our churches are ad- 
ministered by ministers who have never been 
baptized. How can a man communicate that 
which he never possessed? "We would not al- 
low one of our own unbaptized brethren to ad- 
minister baptism, then why permit an unbap- 
tized member of another denomination to do 
for us that which we would not allow one of 
our own to do ? Charity should begin at home, 



THE AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE 199 

and this particular species of it should not begin 
either at home or abroad. 

It is further true that a majority of Pedo- 
baptist ministers who administer immersion do 
not believe in it, and even go so far as to preach 
against it, administering it only in extreme 
cases, and then only to prevent the loss of a 
member. In such cases they perform that in 
which they do not believe, ''and whatsoever is 
not of faith is sin." 

Christ never commanded anyone to preach 
one thing and practice another. Besides, if a 
Pedobaptist or a regenerating-baptizer can 
baptize one person for our churches, he may 
baptize all persons for our churches, and if he 
can scripturally baptize all who come to us, 
then, Baptist churches are not essential to the 
carrying out of the commission of Christ. If 
Baptist churches are not essential to the carry- 
ing out of the commission of Christ, then we 
have no scriptural authority for our existence, 
and the sooner we cease to exist, the better for 
all concerned. 

A plea has been made in behalf of 
alien baptism in the case of the missionary. 
It is claimed that on the foreign field there is 
often no church near at hand to authorize the 
baptism of the candidate, and that, therefore, 



200 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

the missionary must baptize without church 
authority. This, at best, is special pleading, but if 
admitted as true, it would not justify its accept- 
ance in our country. As a matter of fact, how- 
ever, the missionary has been ordained by his 
home church and his very ordination gave him 
the right to baptize, under proper conditions, 
and in any case authorized by his church. If 
necessary, the missionary may, in extreme cases, 
be authorized by a Baptist Church to receive 
and baptize a candidate into its fellowship. 
However, if a case should arise where there was 
no Baptist Church to authorize baptism, then 
simply allow the candidate to remain unbap- 
tized. The brethren who propose this hypoth- 
esis seem to proceed upon the idea that such a 
one would be lost unless baptized. Such a can- 
didate could well afford to wait, or like Christ, 
walk a long way to secure scriptural baptism. 
Hypothetical and exceptional cases should not, 
however be allowed to operate against a well- 
established scriptural rule. There is not a single 
baptism in the New Testament, where the admin- 
istrator did not have authority to baptize and 
that authority given by God, Christ or the 
Church. 

It is sometimes urged that if the validity of 
baptism in anywise rests with the administrator, 



THE AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE 201 

the person baptized could never know whether 
his baptism was genuine. Were this true, which 
it is not, it still would not justify alien baptism. 
A baptism administered by Judas Iscariot was 
perfectly valid, as long as he was acknowledged 
by Christ as his disciple. His official acts were 
clearly valid until he was deprived of his 
apostleship. It one wishes to secure license to 
engage in business, he must apply to one who is 
legally authorized to issue licenses, for however 
honest he may be, or whatever price he may 
pay, his license, if obtained from any other 
source, would be worthless. Ignorance, in spite 
of opportunity, is not a sufficient excuse in the 
realm of law or grace. 

It is freely admitted by all that the question 
of alien baptism could not have arisen in New 
Testament times, as all the churches were of the 
same faith and order. Baptists believe that they 
are in full accord with New Testament teaching, 
and that their churches have the same faith and 
polity, and are therefore identical with the 
churches of the New Testament times. If other 
churches are not in accord with New Testament 
teaching (if they are, we are not), then for us 
to accept their baptism, would be to offer a pre- 
mium on their departure from * ' The Faith once 
for all delivered to the saints." 



202 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

The charge that these who contend for Bap- 
tist baptism are trying to introduce a new test 
of fellowship, to say the least, lacks verisimili- 
tude. So far as the information of the writer 
extends, no one who has written on this subject 
has penned a line toward making the question a 
test of fellowship. If it be true, as the advocates 
of this doctrine admit, that Baptist baptism is 
always to be preferred, then should we not lift 
our voices in favor of that which is best and by 
all lawful and brotherly means discourage the 
reception of that which is confessedly inferior? 

It is a closed question, among Baptists at 
least, that regular Baptist baptism is Bible bap- 
tism, and that it is the baptism commanded by 
Christ and practiced by his disciples. It is 
further held by Baptists that there is but one 
baptism taught in the New Testament (one 
Lord, one faith, one baptism — Eph. 4:5), and 
that this one baptism is the identical baptism 
now administered by Baptist churches. It 
therefore necessarily follows, that any baptism 
which is alien to and different from this bap- 
tism, cannot be scriptural baptism. It would be 
as easy to demonstrate from the Scriptures two 
faiths or two Gods as to demonstrate two bap- 
tisms. Things that are equal to the same thing 
must be equal to ea3h other, and things that are 



THE AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE 203 

alien to each, other cannot be equal to the same 
thing. If alien baptism is scriptural baptism, 
then it is the only baptism, and, therefore, is the 
only baptism that should be received by Baptist 
churches. This, of course, would take from 
Baptist churches the right or necessity of ad- 
ministering the rite of baptism. If Baptist bap- 
tism is identical with the one scriptural baptism, 
then it is the only baptism that ought to be re- 
ceived, or administered by Baptist churches. 

The attempt to classify baptism into regular 
and irregular, is both unscriptural and unrea- 
sonable. Baptism, in the very nature of the 
case, is scriptural or unscriptural, valid or in- 
valid. It would be just as unwise to attempt to 
classify American dollars as regular and irreg- 
ular. An American dollar, to be good, must be 
regularly issued, and, if irregularly issued, is a 
counterfeit dollar, hence utterly worthless. So 
with baptism, it is scriptural and regular, or 
unscriptural and, therefore, irregular. 

Even the advocates of alien baptism freely 
admit that it is irregular, and that it tends to 
disorder. Why, then, should we encourage a 
thing that is admittedly irregular and disor- 
derly, and that, too, when we are commanded to 
do all things in a decent and orderly manner? — 
I. Cor. 14:40. Christ put himself to consider- 



204 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

able inconvenience, and walked a long way, to 
get regular baptism at the hands of the first 
Baptist preacher. If Baptist baptism is the best 
baptism, why content ourselves with an inferior 
article, or encourage others in so doing ? 

The fact that Baptist baptism is acceptable 
to all denominations, is due to the fact that they 
have zealously guarded it through the years. 
Should the time ever come when Baptists would 
place their baptism upon a parity with that ad- 
ministered by other denominations, it is quite 
likely that it would soon cease to be universally 
esteemed as absolutely equivalent to New Testa- 
ment baptism. 

The logician is not born of woman that can 
justify the reception of alien baptism, and, at 
the same time, deny the scripturalness of the 
organization that administers it. The truth is, 
and we may as well face it, the whole question 
depends upon the definition of a church. Cer- 
tainly, it is not pleasant to deny the claims of 
the various denominations to be scriptural 
churches, yet we believe the logic of the Baptist 
contention inevitably forces us to this conclu- 
sion. And while this may be esteemed harsh, 
the opposite conclusion appears impossible. A 
very vital question is, how much of error can 
an organization hold and still be a scriptural 



THE AUTHORITY TO BAPTIZE 205 

church? All Baptists will admit that denomi- 
nations holding a faith differing from theirs, 
must hold some error. How much, then, if any, 
can they hold and still be New Testament 
churches? That many, guided by sentiment 
rather than Scripture, have gone to ridiculous 
extremes in this connection, there can be no 
doubt. For example, there are those, and 
withal well-meaning people, who are disposed 
to regard the Christian Science conglomeration 
as a church. We seem slow to learn that if a 
certain statement is true, the opposite of that 
statement is necessarily false. The sooner we 
learn that we can never correct error by en- 
dorsing or condoning it, the better it will be for 
the triumph of truth. 

By common consent. Baptists have preserved 
believers' baptism through all the years, and in 
view of the fact that they have been permitted 
to be custodians of this Christ-commanded or- 
diance, they cannot afford to jeopardize the or- 
dinance, or rob the churches of the fruits of 
their past victories. 



XVI. 

WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED 
ASSEMBLIES. 

"Let your women keep silence in the 
churches: for it is not permitted unto them 
to speak; but they are commanded to be 
under obedience, as also saith the law. 

"And if they will learn anything, let 
them ask their husbands at home: for it is a 
shame for women to speak in the church. 

"What! Came the word of God out 
from you? Or came it unto you only? 

"If any man think himself to be a 
prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge 
that the things that I write unto you are the 
commandments of the Lord. 

"But if a man be ignorant, let him be 
Ignorant."— I. Cor. 14:34-38. 

"I will therefore that men pray every^ 
where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath 

and doubting Let the women learn ia 

silence with all subjection. 

"But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor 
to usurp authority oyer a man, but to be la 
silence. 

"For Adam was first formed; then Ere. 

"And Adam was not deceived, but the 
woman being deceived was in the transgres- 
sion."— I. Timothy 2:8, 11-14. 



WOMEN SPBAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 207 

I do not defer to any man in my unfeigned 
admiration for womankind, or in my estimate 
of her wonderful worth and work. Yea, it is on 
account of this exalted idea of her splendid 
sphere and mighty mission that I am anxiouf5 
that her activities should be along scriptural 
lines. Not only am I in favor of woman 's work 
in the churches, but in every church which T 
have served there has been a noble band of 
godly women in whose work I have rejoiced, yea, 
and will rejoice. And just here it may not be 
amiss to note the determined effort of some mis- 
guided men to make it appear that those who op- 
pose women speaking in the churches are ene- 
mies to the work that is being done by our 
women. This is not only begging the question, 
but is a species of political trickery unworthy 
of a Christian. 

The only question is, What does the Bible 
teach on the sulbject? It is not even a question 
of what would be the result if we should enforce 
the commands of Scripture in this connection. 
Obviously, it is our business to comply with 
God's commands, and God's business to take 
care -of the results. 

The Scriptures relating to this question are 
so positive and so plain that the wonder is that 



208 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

there could have ever been any doubt as to their 
meaning. Indeed, their meaning has been so 
manifest that there is not a sigle commentary 
that does not interpret these passages as forbid- 
ding the public speaking of women in th(v 
churches. The first question that very naturally 
presents itself is one concerning the correctness 
of the text. Some years since, Dr. T. T. Eaton 
consulted the various versions of the Bible, giv- 
ing the different translations of these Scriptures. 
From these we take several and add another: 
The Revised Version — 

"Let the women keep silence in the churches: 
for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let 
them be in subjection, as the law also says. And if 
they wish to learn anything, let them ask their own 
husbands at home: for it is a shame for a woman to 
speak in the church. What? did the word of God 
come for them from you? or came it unto you alone? 
If any one thinks himself a prophet, or spiritual, let 
him acknowledge the things which I write unto you 
are the Lord's commandments. 

"I desire therefore that the men pray in every 
place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dis- 
puting, . . . Let the women learn in silence with all 
subjection. But I permit not the woman to teach, 
nor to have authority over the man, but to be in 
silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and 
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being de- 
ceived is fallen into transgression." 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 209 

Here is the American Bible Union Version—* 

"Let your women keep silence in the churches; 
for it is not permitted to them to speak, but they 
are to be in subjection, as the law also says. And 
if they wish to learn anything, let them ask their 
own husbands at home; for it is a shame for a 
woman to speak in the church. Did the word of God 
come for them from you? or came it unto you alone? 

"If any one thinks himself a prophet, or spirit- 
ual, let him acknowledge the things I write unto you 
are the Lord's commandments.'* 

The Douay Version (Roman Catholic, from 
the Latin Vulgate) says — 

"Let women keep silence in the churches: for it 
Is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, 
as also the law saith. But if they would learn any- 
thing, let them ask their husbands at home. For it 
is a shame for a woman to speak in the church." 

"I will therefore that men pray in every place, 
lifting up pure hands without anger and contention. 
. . . Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjec- 
tion. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to use 
authority over the man: but to be in silence. For 
Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was 
not seduced: but the woman being seduced was la 
t^ transgression." 

"Wiclijffe's Version (from the Vulgate) says — 
"Women in churches be still, for it is not suf- 



210 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

fered thorn to speak, but to be subject as the law 
saith, but if they would anything learn, at home ask 
their husbands, for it is a foul thing for a woman to 
speak in the church." — I. Cor. 14:34. 35. 

"A woman learn in silence with all subjection. 
But I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to have 
lordship on the husband, but to be in silence, for 
Adam was first formed, afterward Eve, and Adam 
was not deceived; but the woman was deceived in 
breaking the law."— I. Tim 2:11-14. 

"Wakefield says — 

*'Let women be silent in your assemblies: for 
they are not permitted to speak, but must be in 
subjection as the law also commandeth. And, if 
they wish to learn anything, let them ask their hus- 
bands at home; as it is dishonorable for a woman to 
speak in a congregation. 

"What? did the word of God come forth from 
you? or hath it reached you only? If any one have 
the character of a teacher, or of a spiritual person, 
he will acknowledge that what I am writing to you 
are the commandments of the Lord; but whoso doih 
not acknowledge this, let him be unknown as a 
spiritual person." 

Jolin Wesley's Version puts it thus— 

"Let your women be silent in the churches; for 
It is not permitted them to speak, but to be in sub- 
jection, as the law also saith. And if they desire to 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 211 

learn anything, let them ask their husbands at 
home; for it is indecent for a Troman to speak in 
the assembly" 

Tyndal's Version, on these passages, reads 
thus — 

"Let your wives keep silence in the congrega- 
tions. For it is not permitted unto them to speak, 
but let them be under obedience as saith the law. 
If they will learn anything, let them ask their hus- 
bands at home. For it is a shame for women to 
speak in the congregation." 

"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjec- 
tion. I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to have 
authority over a man: but for to be in silence. For 
Adam was first formed, and then Eve. Also Adam 
was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and 
was in transgression." 

Cranmer's Version is as follows — 

"Let your women keep silence in the congrega- 
tions. For it is not permitted unto them to speak: 
but to be under obedience, as saith the law. If they 
will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at 
home. For it is a shame for women to speak in the 
congregation." 

Next to the Bible, it is quite natural that we 
should look to the world's greatest biblical schol- 
ars for light on the sacred text. This is even 



212 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

the more natural, in this instance, in which tha 
world's greatest scholars are all agreed. It may 
be well for us just here to give heed to what thy 
world's greatest commentaries have to say on 
this subject — 

Dr. Hodge says — 

"In the Old Testament it has been predicted 
that 'your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;' 
a prediction which the Apostle Peter quotes as veri- 
fied on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:17, and in Acts 
21:9, mention is made of four daughters of Philip 
who prophesied. The Apostle himself seems to take 
for granted, in 11:5, that women might receive and 
exercise the gift of prophecy. It is therefore only 
the public exercise of the gift that is prohibited." 

The Patrick, Lowth, etc., Commentary 
says — 

"Let your women keep silence in the churches, 
for it is not permitted unto them to speak (by way 
of teaching or prophesying, but only by joining with 
the church in prayer and psalmody), but they are 
commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the 
Inw. ... In Corinth the women not only prophesied 
in the church, but they did it with the head uncov- 
ered. I. Cor. 11:5; the latter indecency he corrects 
there, and the first here, see I. Tim. 2i:12." Com. on 
I. Cor. 14:34. 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 213 

Godet, on I. Cor. 14:34— 

"The saints, distributed in churches, locally- 
speaking, yet form only one great spiritual whole: 
the Corinthians should not isolate themselves from 
the community of saints by adopting customs re- 
jected by all the rest of the body, such as the speak- 
ing of women in the assemblies. \ 

"And as the attitude of authority over the man 
Is contrary to that of obedience which was impose?! 
on the woman during the present economy, he 
draws the conclusion that the speaking of the 
woman in public is in contradiction to the position 
assigned to her by the divine will expressed in the 
law. It is easy to see why the apostle substitutes 
the general idea; to be subject, which relates to the 
whole life of women, for that of not speaking in the 
assemblies; it is because the silence of women in 
worship is only an application of the general sub- 
ordination which is imposed on them in relation to 
man." 

Ellicott, on I. Tim. 2 :12— 

"Every form of public address or teaching is 
clearly forbidden as at variance with woman's 
proper duties and destination. 

"This, according to his view, would conflict 
with modesty and with woman's rightful position, 
and would lead to many evils. It is an evasion to 
discriminate between women speaking in church 
meetings and women addressing general congrega- 
tions. The apostle's objection was to the public 



214 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

character of the act, and when he is speaking of 
the 'meetings of the church' in this very chapter, 
he is referring to gatherings to which unbelievers 
had access." 

Dean Stanley, on I. Cor. 14 :34, says — 

"One particular instance of confusion growing 
out of the neglect of order in the control of the 
gifts, was the speaking of women in the assemblies. 
This custom, like that of appearing unveiled (11:3- 
16), he condemns on the ground that he forbade it 
in all the assemblies of Christians. The speaking 
of women was also expressly forbidden in the syn- 
agogues." 

"The prohibition to women to speak in public is 
explicit, stringent, absolute, universal, and fortified 
hy appeals to the law of revelation, and the law of 
nature. The apostle reiterates it in various forms, 
as if to prevent the possibility of being misunder- 
stood." — Webster & Wilkerson. 

"Let your women keep silent, etc. This rule 
is positive, explicit, and universal. There is no 
ambiguity in the expressions; and there can be no 
difference of opinion, one would suppose, in regard 
to their meaning. The sense evidently is that in all 
those things which he specified, the women were to 
keep silence, they were to take no part. . . It was 
contrary to all decency and propriety that they 
should appear in that manner in public. He here 
argues against the practice on every ground; for- 
bids it altogether, and skows in every consideration 



WOMEN SPEAKING EST MIXED ASSEMBLIES 215 

it was to "be regarded as improper for them even so 
much as to ask a question in time of public service." 
— Barnes. 

"To reconcile these verses with the Scripture 
referred to (I. Cor. 11:2-16), it seems most natural 
to suppose that some of the Corinthian women were 
used to speaking publicly, when not under any im- 
mediate or extraordinary impulse of the Holy Spirit; 
and perhaps they interrupted the other speakers by 
inquiries and objections, according to the disputa- 
tious spirit which prevailed. The apostle therefore 
laid it down as a general rule (to which the fore- 
going case was the only exception), that women 
must not be allowed to speak in the public congre- 
gation, or to assume the office of teachers, or dis- 
putants: for this by no means consisted with that 
subjection to their husbands, which the law of God 
inculcated." — Thomas Scott. 

"33b, 34. These go together. For whereas verse 
33b would add no force to the calm assertion of 
verse 33a, it introduces suitably, by making it valid 
for all churches everywhere, the strong and strongly 
confirmed injunction of verse 34. Similar references 
to other churches in 4:17; 7:17; 11:16. Of the 
saints: reminds us that church members stand in a 
special relation to God. In the churches: general 
assemblies of men and women. Compare 'over the 
man,' in the similar prohibition of I. Tim. 11:12. 
Consequently, this verse is not inconsistent with 
11:5, where women are tacitly permitted to 'pray' 
and 'prophesy,' but limits these exercises to more 
private meetings consisting chiefly or wholly of 
women. Notice the coincidence* of 11:5., The 



216 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

women who are ready to speak in public would be 
also ready to lay aside their distinctive female head 
dress." — Beet. 

"The deviation of the Corinthians from the right 
exercise of the Charismata was further shown in 
permitting women who were possessed of the gifts 
(for such alone can be intended to speak in public. 
This is reproved by the apostle, appealing likewise 
to the word of God. Gen. 3:16.) Women were to 
be submissive to their husbands in all things, and 
to learn, but not to teach. . . . The speaking with 
tongues on the contrary he rarely permits, and com- 
mands under all circumstances, the observance of 
decency (antithesis of the unseemliness of women's 
speaking in the assembly, verse 35), and order (in 
opposition to the irregular speaking all at once, 
verse 27 seq.) ... To exhibit more clearly the de- 
pendence of the woman on the man, the apostle adds 
an argument from the second chapter of Genesis. 
The fact that woman was formed out of the rib of 
man and was destined to be his helper is employed 
by Paul for this purpose. This argument would ap- 
pear singular in these days, but evidently only be- 
cause we have not accustomed ourselves to take 
the Holy Scriptures, especially the Old Testament, 
so literally. Paul, however, proceeds upon the un- 
qualified divinity of the Old Testament, and the 
more this is generally recognized, the more admis- 
sible shall we learn to regard such proofs." — 01s- 
hausen's Commentary. 

"Appendix to the regulative section regarding 
the gifts of the Spirit (verses 26-33), directed against 
the public speaking of women. . . Therefore it is 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 217 

preferable to connect the clause with what follows, 
as is done by Cajetanus and most modern exposi- 
tors: as in all church assemblies of the saints, your 
women ought to be silent in the church assemblies 
. . . "excludes in Paul's view, the speaking in the as- 
semblies, inasmuch as the latter appears to him aa 
an act of complying independence. Gen. 3:16, . . . 
Paul is decided against all undue exaltation and as- 
sumption on the part of women in religious things, 
and it has been the occasion of much evil in the 
church." — ^Meyer's Commentary.. 

John Calvin, on I. Cor. 14:34, speaking of 
women's addressing mixed assemblies, says — 

"It is therefore an argument from things incon- 
sistent. If the woman is under subjection, she is, 
consequently, prohibitd from authority to teach 
in public." And again: "Paul's reasoning, however, 
is simple — that authority to teach is not suitable to 
the station that a woman occupies, because if she 
teaches she presides over all the men, while it be- 
comes her to be under subjection." 

The Bible Com.mentary (by the bishops and 
clergy of the Church of England) says, on I. 
Tim. 2 :11— 

"Let the women learn in silence, etc. In public 
worship the men only are to teach as well as to 
pray. The Apostle had given the same injunction to 
the Corinthians, and had intimated that it was the 



218 THE BAPTIST BEBT TO THE WORLD 

universal regulation 'in all the churches of the 
saints/ I. Cor. 14:33-36." Thig is from Prof. Wall. 

The Popular Commentary (edited by Dr. 
Philip Schaff) says, on I. Cor. 14:33-36— 

"And that further question comes in most suita- 
bly where we find it (ch. xiv), under the head of 
how those extraordinary spiritual gifts, which were 
of local sanctity, but rather to emphasize the fact 
that the rule laid down was binding in the more 
private meetings of disciples as well as in the public 
gathering of the Ecclesia." 

On I. Cor. 14:34-36, and I. Tim. 2:8-12, Dr. 
John A. Broadus says — 

"Now it does not need to be urged that these 
two passages from the Apostle Paul do definitely 
and strongly forbid that women shall speak in mixed 
public assemblies. No one can afford to question 
that such is the most obvious meaning of the 
apostle's commands." Ought Women to Speak, etc., 
p. 4. 

Conybeare and Howson, in their Life and 
Epistles of St. Paul, on I. Cor. 16 :33-36— 

"The women must not officiate publicly in the 
congregation." On I. Tim. 2:9-15, they say: "The 
Apostle's meaning is that women are to be kept in 
the path of safety, not by taking upon themselves 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 219 

the oflBce of the man (by taking a public part la 
the assemblies of the church, etc.), but by the per- 
formance of the peculiar functions which God has 
assigned to their sex." 

Lange^s Commentary, on I. Tim. 2:9-15, this 
part being written by Dr. Van Oosterzee, says: 

"As the apostle thus reverts to public prayers 
just commended, he now states more exactly when, 
how and through whom these should be conducted, 
and with this he adds his special counsel to the 
women as well as the men. The latter, in express 
distinction from the women, are alone to direct 
public prayers. It thus appears that, in the assem- 
bly of believers, this duty was not given exclusively 
to the presiding officer, but was performed without 
limitation by the members of the church. The 
apostle does not object to this, but only orders that 
the women shall abstain entirely from it, which, 
perhaps, in more recent times, they had not always 
done." 

To this list from our Southern Zion may bfi 
added such names as Fuller, Hackett, Boyce, 
Broadus, Carroll, Hawthorne and Eaton. If 
these Baptist worthies have all lived and died 
in such painful, if not sinful, ignorance of the 
Scriptures, we may well ask if there is any 
truth held by Baptists that may be considered 
a closed question. For nearly two thousand 



220 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

years, Baptists have been practically united on 
this question. It is worthy of note that only 
since the launching of the suffragette move- 
ment has there been any division of sentiment 
among us on this question. This movement, 
whatever may be its merits, has had a tendency 
to discount Scriptural authority. To such an 
extent is this true that the noted leaders in this 
movement have, with remarkably few excep- 
tions, been known as neutrals or belligerents in 
their attitude to the New Testament. In fact, 
not a few of them publicly repudiate the teach- 
ing of Paul concerning women. 

Unfortunately, those who claim that Paul 
did not mean to forbid women's speaking in the 
churches fail to tell us what he really did mean. 
They deny that he meant what the consensus of 
the world's scholarship claims that he meant, 
yet they persistently refuse to tell us what he did 
intend to teach. An attempted exegesis by some 
of those who claim that Paul did not mean what 
he said, or did not say what he meant, would 
certainly be refreshing, and perhaps amusing. 

Since the objections to the plain teaching of 
Paul are few and well defined, it may be well 
to consider them just here. 

The first, and possibly the most common, ob- 



WOMEN SPEAKING EST MIXED ASSEM'BLIES 221 

jection to Paul's teaching, especially among ad- 
vanced women is ''that he was a disgruntled old 
bachelor, and hence prejudiced against women." 
"Were it not for the fact that this claim is so 
often made, and seemingly with all seriousness, 
it would seem useless to refute it. It is hardly 
necessary to say that such a contention discred- 
its Paul's authority as a New Testament writer, 
and completely invalidates his claim to be in- 
spired. If Paul's prejudice constrained him to 
misrepresent the will of God in one instance, 
why not in many, yea, in every instance? Ac- 
cording to this contention, Paul's writings are 
inspired in spots, and anyone who objects to 
any part of his teaching is permitted to deter- 
mine the spots. It is impossible, therefore, for 
one holding this objection to believe in the in- 
spiration of the Scriptures. From the stand- 
point of the Christian, this objection automatic- 
ally and axiomatically works its own destruc- 
tion. 

Another very common objection is that 
Paul's instructions in this regard were given 
only to the church at Corinth, and only to this 
church on account of the peculiar conditions 
existing. This objection is clearly and emphat- 
ically answered in the text. In verse 34, the 



222 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

language is, 'Let your women keep silence in 
tlie churches.'' The plural form "churclies," 
and not church, is used. The reasons assigned 
in his letter to Timothy, "For Adam was first 
formed and then Eve; and Adam was not de- 
ceived, but the woman being deceived was in 
the transgression," obviously pertains to all 
women. The prohibition, like the reasons given 
for it, beyond doubt, makes his injunction of 
universal application. In this connection, Paul 
further says: 

''If any man think himself to be a prophet, 
or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things 
I write unto you are the commandments of the 
Lord." This, unequivocally, implies that those 
who will not acknowledge the things Paul 
wrote as commandments of the Lord are not 
''spiritual". One of the things that Paul wrote 
was, "Let your women keep silence in the 
churches, for it is not permitted unto them to 
speak, but they are commanded to be under obe- 
dience, as also saith the law." It will be ob- 
served that Paul affirms that what he com- 
manded the churches concerning women was 
according to the law and the Gospel. It will 
be obseryed, therefore, that the command "to 
keep silence in the churches," has, if possible, 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 223 

behind it even more authority than the com- 
mand to be baptized, since baptism was not en- 
joined by the law. The claim, then, that Paul's 
words were applicable only to the church at 
Corinth, is not only grotesquely gratuitous, but 
consistently contrary to the rule **in all the 
churches," and the teaching of the law and the 
Gospel. ' 

Dr. Broadus well says: 

**Why will not Baptist people see the gross in- 
consistency of vehemently asserting the necessity 
of conforming to the New Testament in regard to 
church membership and the ordinances, while they 
coolly disregard express prohibitions in respect to 
another matter? Will our honored brethren and 
sisters please open their eyes, take their latitude 
and longitude, and see which way they are drifting^ 
" 'Ah, but,' some will say, 'this is a great move- 
ment; and it is going to grow. Shall we let the 
Methodists get all the benefit of it?' Grant for the 
sake of argument that it seems expedient, and will 
give denominational power. We let the Methodists 
get all the benefit of infant baptism, of Arminian 
theology, of centralized organization, because we 
think these things are contrary to the New Testa- 
ment. If Baptists are going to abandon New Testa- 
ment teachings for the sake of falling in with what 
they regard as a popular movement, the very reason 
for their existence has ceased." 

Still another objection is that the injunction 



224 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

applied only to ** married'* women. This is a 
cool assumption that Paul did not know how ta 
express himself so as to be understood. Alas, 
poor Paul! how lamentable his lack of perspi- 
cuity ! 

Let us note for a moment the meaning of 
the word "women," as used by Paul in this re- 
gard. The word translated *' women" is gunee 
(gunaikes) and according to Thayer, means '*a 
woman of any age, whether a virgin or married » 
or a widow." 

"We know of no greater authority than 
Thayer, nor do we know of anyone who knows 
Greek that will "be disposed to deny his defini- 
tion. It is worthy of notice that some of the 
best MSS. omit "your" in verse 34. This fact, 
if possible, further weakens the case of those 
who would limit the meaning of the word to 
"wives". Paul's appeal to the law and his 
statement that Adam was first formed, and that 
the woman was first in the transgression demand 
that the injunction be applied to all women and 
not restricted to wives. There are many places 
in the Scriptures where the word cannot mean 
wives. Translators, commentators and lexi- 
cographers are united as to the meaning of this 
word. 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 225 

The effort to limit the meaning of the word 
to married women is not only unscriptural, but 
contrary to common sense. If any woman should 
speak in mixed assemblies, good taste would 
suggest that it should preferably be the married 
woman. Modesty, which is more than becoming 
in all women, is especially commendable in the 
unmarried woman. There is neither Scripture 
nor reason in limiting the prohibition to mar- 
ried women. As a matter ot fact, those who try 
to maintain this distinction have never been 
known to object to a married woman's speaking 
in church. In the last analysis, the argument 
is made to discredit Paul and to hush the 
mouths of those who are earnestly contending 
for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. 
In this regard, Dr. Eaton sounded the following 
timely warning; 

**It may be well to bear in mind how women's 
public speaking has been connected with various 
recent heresies. Spiritualism was started by women 
— the Misses Fox. Theosophy was started by a 
woman — Madam Blavatsky. The so-called Christian 
Science was founded by Mrs. Eddy. Modern Perfec- 
tionism began with a woman. All of these sects 
have favored women's public speaking. The only 
safety for women and their only true progress lie in 
strict conformity to Bible teaching. This is iiot de- 
grading women, it Is honoring them. Their work 



226 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

in the world is no less important than men's, and is 
no less honored of man and of God. God knows 
what is best for women as for men, and for us to 
assume that what He has told us in His Word is 
not suited to these 'advanced' times, and therefore 
we must act differently, is blasphemy. It is the 
same as saying that God does not understand the 
world, and therefore has made a mistake in the prin- 
ciples He has given us for our guidance. It is not 
so great blasphemy to say there is no God, as to say 
there is a foolish God who does not understand what 
He is about in governing the world." 

Another, and an unusually foolish objection 
is that because some women can speak well, 
therefore they should speak. This imaginary 
argument has been offered as a justification for 
the Asheville episode. In its last analysis, the 
argument amounts to this — because a man is a 
successful gambler, therefore he should gamble; 
because God has given one the power to kill an- 
other, therefore he should exercise his gifts to 
murder. It goes without saying that God has 
given us the power to do many things that He 
has commanded us not to do. What right have 
We to disobey God, because we can disobey Him 
in a felicitous manner? A mere statement of 
this objection should be sufficient for its refuta- 
tion. 

Yet another objection to Paul's teaching 19 



WOMEN SPEAKING EST MIXED ASSEMBLIES 227 

that it is not applicable to our age. This, if 
true, is indeed deplorable. If it be a fact that 
the New Testament was only adapted to the age 
in which it was written, Christians of today 
should, of all people, be most miserable. This 
contention adapts God's words to the age, and 
not the age to the Bible. The Bible is truth for 
all people, and all time, or it is not inspired, 
and therefore not the Word of God. And just 

here, comes much of our trouble in this connec- 
tion. There is a determined effort upon the 
part of the enemies of the Cross, to discredit the 
Bible as being inconsistent with our Twentieth 
Century civilization. It is tragically true that 
much of our boasted civilization is contrary to 
the express teaching of the Bible. Probably it 
has not occurred to the satellites of our civiliza- 
tion that it might be well to change our civili- 
zation to meet the demands of the Bible rather 
than repudiate the Bible to meet the demands 
of our civilization. In other words, to make 
man subject to God, rather than God subject to 
man. Whenever, and wherever, any civiliza- 
tion comes in conflict with the Scripture, it is 
then and there that it gives conclusive evidence 
of its own corruption. The Bible is supposed 



228 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

to establish a standard for the age, and not the 
age for the Bible. 

As has been well said, *'The advocates of this 
fad are simply following the trend of the age, 
which is an offshoot of that dangerous, unscrip- 
tural thing known as Feminism, whose avowed 
goal is the abolition of marriage, and the de- 
struction of the home/' As Dr. Eaton once re- 
marked: *'The advanced woman will never ba 
satisfied until she can become the father of the 
family." 

It is not a matter of surprise that a great 
majority of the leaders in this movement to dis- 
regard the teaching of the Bible are both child- 
less and Christless. As a rule, they have not 
been known as home-makers or church members. 

It is insistently urged that Paul's language 
cannot mean what it clearly appears to mean, 
because if so, it would conflict with other Scrip- 
tures. The particular case of supposed conflict 
that is offered in evidence by those who are de- 
termined to disregard Paul's prohibition is that 
of women's prophesying on the day of Pente- 
cost. Concerning this, it is hardly necessary to 
say that. Paul's teaching cannot conflict with 
other Bible teaching. To so assert, is equivalent 
to denying his inspiration and making Christ 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES ' 229 

a contradiction. This is an impossible surmisd 
with the Christian. 

Whatever prophesying was done at Pen- 
tecost by the women was evidently not of a 
public nature, nor in mixed assemblies. It will 
be recalled that a portion, at least, of Peter's 
sermon is recorded, but no part of one delivered 
by a woman on that day. As is well known, 
much of the prophesying, even of the greatest 
prophets, was addressed to individuals, and not 
to assemblies. As a matter of fact, but com- 
paratively few of the prophecies of the Bibb 
were delivered to public assemblies. The fact, 
then, that one prophesied does not imply that 
he or she prophesied in the presence of either a 
public or mixed assembly. Paul said that 
**Holy men of God spake as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost, ' ' but he did not say this of 
the women, because public speaking was not 
their mission. At best, those who affirm the 
speaking of women before a mixed assembly 
can only urge an unwarranted inference which 
conflicts with an unequivocal command. It is 
identically the argument that is offered by the 
advocates of infant baptism, and Baptists, of 
all people, should be the last to offer such an ar- 
gument. 



230 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

It is true that there is an instance in the Ne^ 
Testament of a woman's speaking in public. 
This is found in Kev. 2:20: ''Notwithstanding 
I have a few things against thee, because thou 
sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth her- 
self a prophete^, to teach and to seduce my ser- 
vants to commit fornication and to eat things 
sacrificed unto idols. It will be observed that 
both the fact of teaching and the character of 
the teaching is condemned. This was condemned 
in the church at Thyatira, as in ''all the 
churches. ' ' 

Now, then, the prohibition against women's 
speaking in the churches is as plain and explicit 
as it is possible to make it. Indeed, we defy 
anyone to make a statement forbidding women's 
speaking in the churches in language that can 
be more easily understood than that used by 
Paul in this regard. We confidently venture 
the assertion that no one will make the attempt ; 
and if not, why not? 

It is somewhat remarkable that not one of 
those who deny the age-long interpretation of 
Paul's words wull even attempt to give us an 
exegesis of these passages. The truth is, they 
cannot and dare not, and are therefore forced 
to content themselves with a simple negation 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 231 

without a particle of proof. If Paul did not 
mean what he said, in the name of common sense 
and common fairness, why do they not tell us 
what he did mean? We kindly challenge them 
to the test. 

Paul not only gives the command in lan- 
guage that is well-nigh impossible to misunder- 
stand, but goes further and specifically states 
the reasons upon which the command is based, 
as follows: 

1. Priority in creation; or as Paul puts it 
— **For Adam was first formed, then Eve." I. 
Tim. 2 :13. By creation, man has the precedence, 
and is the Scriptural head of the home, mascu- 
line women, feminine gentlemen, and a few ex- 
cellent brethren to the contrary notwithstanding. 
It is a matter of small moment, who may, or 
may not like it, this is God's appointment, and 
we cannot deny it without repudiating the 
Scriptures. 

It is just as true that woman is forbidden to 
usurp spiritual authority over man in the 
churches. Leadership in the churches has been 
given to man, and cannot be scripturally relin- 
quished. To reverse the God-ordained order 
will mean the ultimate destruction of our homes 
and churches. 



232 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD 

2. The second reason assigned is, "Adam 
was not deceived, but the woman being deceived 
was in the transgression." I. Tim. 2:14. It is 
not gallantry, as sometimes suggested, that ig- 
nores this Scripture, but ordinary infidelity. 
The only possible question that can arise is one 
concerning the truthfulness of the account of 
Creation as given in Genesis. We regret to 
state that many of those who are striving to de- 
scripturalize and de-womanize woman, laugh to 
scorn the history of Creation as given in the 
Book of Genesis. 

3. A third reason is found in the law given 
at the time of the fall as contained in Gen. 3: 
16: ''The determination of thy will shall be un- 
to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." 

These reasons were given by Paul as the 
ground of prohibition for women's speaking in 
the churches, and we can only invalidate his 
prohibition by invalidating his reasons ; and this 
can be done only by denying his authority and 
impeaching his character. Such a task ca/i 
hardly be coveted by the Christian 

Not only does Paul give a command, and the 
reasons for the command, but further urges obe- 
dience to the command by telling them that **If 
any man think himself to be a prophet, or spir- 



WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXED ASSEMBLIES 233 

itual, let him acknowledge the things I write 
unto you are the comniandnients of the Lord.'* 
I. Cor. 14:37. There is probably no command 
in all the Bible that is more clearly stated, more 
strongly sustained with unanswerable argu- 
ment, and the observance of which is more in- 
sistently urged, than the one that the ** women 
keep silence in the churches." 

In the past, "Thus saith the Lord," has been 
to Baptists an end of all controversy, and it is 
a sad comment on our generation that it is not 
true of today. Baptists are, essentially, strict 
constructionists, and the moment they begin to 
seek authority by inference and implication, 
they will forever forfeit their age-long conten- 
tion. May the God. of all Grace help us to be 
true and steadfast in these perilous times. To 
this end, let us give heed to His words : 

**For I testify unto every man that heareth 
the words of the prophecy of this book. If any 
man shall add unto these things, God shall add 
unto him the plagues that are written in this 
book; and if any man shall take away from the 
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall 
take away his part out of the book of life and 
out of the holy city and from the things which 
are written in this book." Eev. 22:18, 19. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
THE ACT OF BAPTISM. 

It will be granted that every follower of 
Christ is under obligation to obey every coni' 
mand of Christ. It will also be granted that 
baptism is a command of Christ, and therefore 
one to be obeyed by all His followers. Evidently 
the New Testament teaches some kind of bap- 
tism, and only one kind of baptism, ' ' One Lord, 
one faith, and one baptism." Whatever, then, 
the baptism commanded in the New Testament, 
it is the one and only one that should be admin- 
istered or received by any Christian. The only 
defensible attitude of the Christian is, ''What 
will thou have me to do?" Blessed be he who 
has the faith and courage to do his Master's 
bidding. 

That the fact and act of baptism are of great 
importance may be seen from the following rea- 
sons : It is a positive and not a moral command. 
It is not a command that grows out of the nature 
of the case, or one predicated upon the funda- 
mental principles of righteousness, but its only 
basis is the express and explicit words of 
Christ. There can, therefore, arise no' possible 
question as to the wisdom or worth of the com- 



T31E ACT OP BAPTISM. 235 

mand, or our duty to obey it. "Ye are my 
friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." 

Its importance further arises from the fact 
that it is absolutely essential to church member- 
ship. It is the initiatory ordinance to the church, 
and church membership is impossible without it. 
It is the first command that meets the believer 
and is a test of his willingness to do his Master's 
will. Christ magnified the importance of the act 
by His own baptism. He not only gave us the 
precept, but an example of baptism. 

A few years since, we visited Athens and were 
somewhat surprised to find that Pedobaptists al- 
most uniformly practiced immersion. Curiously 
enough, we were confronted with the paradox of 
a denomination being Baptist in Greece, and 
Pedobaptist in America. Scriptural consistency^ 
is, to say the least, a desirable desideratum. 

Jesus thought enough of the ordinance to 
walk fifty miles to be baptized by John in the 
Jordan. Surely, He would not have gone to this 
trouble to secure something that was unimport- 
ant. He began his public ministry with a com- 
mand concerning baptism. The one and only 
question to be determined in this regard is, what 
constitutes the act of baptism. In the determi. 
nation of the inquiry, we must necessarily have 
recourse to the meaning of the word. Inasmuch 



236 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

as the literature of the Greek language is abund- 
ant, our task should be simple and easy. Our 
search is further facilitated by the fact that the 
Greeks still speak the language in which the New 
Testament was written. Surely, the Greeks, of 
all people, ought to know Greek. In Greece, one 
and all are agreed that the word ''baptizo'* 
means to immerse, to dip, to plunge. The defi- 
nitions of a few Greek Lexicons should suffice to 
settle the question. 

Prof. J. H. Thayer, in his Greek Lexicon of 
the New Testament, says ''Baptizo," to dip, to 
plunge, to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to sub- 
merge. In the New Testament, it is used partic- 
ularly of the rite of sacred ablution first insti- 
tuted by John the Baptist, afterward by Christ's 
command, received by Christians and adjusted 
to the nature and contents of their religion : viz., 
an immersion in water. Liddel & Scott, in the 
seventh edition of their lexicon, define baptizo 
to dip in or under water. Prof. E. A. Soph- 
ocles, for many years Professor of Greek in Har- 
vard University, in the lexicon of Greek lan- 
guages, defines baptizo "to immerse, to dip, to 
plunge, to sink." 

Cremer, in his Biblico-Theologieal Greek 
Lexicon, says: ''Baptizo to immerse, to sub- 
merge. The peculiar New Testament and Chris- 



THE ACT OF BAPTISM. 237 

tian use of the word to denote immersion for a 
religious purpose to baptize." Liddel & Scott's 
and Thayer's are the acknowledged standard 
lexicons in practically all the great schools of 
the world, and these two lexicons alone should 
forever settle the meaning of the word baptizo, 
the word from which we get our word baptize. 
We do not know of any Greek lexicon now in 
existence that defines the word as meaning any- 
thing other than immersion. Dr. T. T. Eaton, 
while Editor of the Recorder, offered $1,000 for 
a single instance, in classical or New Testament 
Greek, in which the word "baptizo" meant to 
sprinkle. This reward stood for years, and was 
never claimed. 

It may be very naturally asked why it is not 
so translated in our English version. This is a 
pertinent question, and demands a satisfactory 
answer. The truth is, the word in the King 
James Version, is not translated, but transliter- 
ated. The King James Version is the work of 
the Church of England scholars. King James 
was the head of the Church of England. When 
the translators came to the word ''baptizo," 
they agreed according to the suggestion, it is 
claimed, from the King that they would not 
translate the word, but simply Anglocise it. This 
they did, by the change of the letter "o" into 



238 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

*'e." As a result, we have the word baptize in- 
stead of the Greek word ''baptizo." Had they 
dared to translate the word, they would have 
been forced to translate it ''to dip," ''to 
plunge," "to immerse." 

There is a word that the Greeks used to des- 
ignate "sprinkling," which was, and is, "ran- 
tizo. ' ' The meaning of this word was as well un- 
derstood by them as the word "baptizo." Those 
who sprinkle, therefore, do not, in any sense, 
baptize, but "rantize." Hence they should be 
called "rantists," or "rantizers." 

Let us now turn to the world's most scholarly 
commentaries, that we may get their under- 
standing of the act of baptism. Probably no 
more learned commentary has ever been written 
than that of Meyer, who says: "To this, how- 
ever, the immersion of the whole of the baptized 
person or the metonia was to purify the whole 
man, corresponded with profound significance, 
and to this the specially Christian view of the 
symbolical immersion and emersion afterwards, 
connected itself by an ethical necessity." John 
Calvin, in his Institutes, says: "The word bap- 
tize signifies to immerse, and it is certain that 
the rite to immerse, or of immersion, was ob- 
served by the ancient church." 

John Wesley, in his notes on the New Testa- 



THE ACT OP BAPTISM. 239 

ment, describes the act of baptism as follows: 
"We are buried with Him, alluding to the an- 
cient manner of baptizing by immersion. 

Adam Clarke, easily the gre'atest commenta- 
tor that has yet arisen among Methodists, says, 
concerning John's baptism: "That the baptism 
of John was by plunging the body (after the 
same manner of washing unclean persons, and 
the baptism of proselytes was) seems to appear 
from those things that are related of him ; name- 
ly, that he baptized in Jordan because there was 
much water there, to which that seems to be 
parallel to Acts 8:38 — Philip and the Eunuch 
went down into the water." 

Dean Stanley, who had no superior as a 
scholar in the Church of England, in the past 
century, refers, in his Christian Institutes, to 
baptism as follows: "For the first thirteen cen- 
turies the almost universal practice of baptism 
was that of which we read in the New Testa- 
ment, and which is the very meaning of the word 
baptize, that those who were plunged, sub- 
merged, immersed into water. That practice is 
still, as we have seen, continued in Eastern 
churches. In the case of John Wesley, whose 
religious movement, contrary to his own wishes, 
led to the founding of the Methodist church, not 
only claimed that the New Testament taught im- 



240 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

mersion, but practiced what lie taught. In his 
Journal for Georgia, February 21, 1736, he haa 
this entry : ' ' Mary "Welch, aged eleven days, was 
baptized according to the custom of the first 
church and the rule of the Church of England, 
by immersion.'' 

Dr. DeWitt Talmadge, perhaps the moat 
prominent Presbyterian preacher of the last cen- 
tury, on being requested by Mr. Houston to bap- 
tize him just as Christ was baptized, immersed 
him in the River Jordan. The following is Dr. 
Talmadge 's own account of this baptism, as it 
appears in the authorized history of his life: 

''"With that garment girdled around me, I 
led the candidate down under the trees on the 
bank, while near by were groups of friends and 
some strangers who happened to be there. After 
a prayer, I read of Christ's baptism in the Jor- 
dan, and the commission, *Go teach all nations, 
baptizing them. ' The people on the bank joined 
in singing, to the familiar tune, that soul-stir- 
ring song, 'On Jordan's Stormy Bank I -Stand.' 
"With the candidate's hand in mine, we waded 
deep into the Jordan, and I then declared: 'In 
this historical river, where Israelites crossed, 
and Naaman was plunged seven times for the 
cure of his leprosy, and Christ was baptized, 
and which has been used in all ages as a symbol 



THE ACT OF BAPTISM. 241 

of the dividing line between earth and heaven, 1 
baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.' As the 
candidate went down under the waves and then 
rose, I felt a solemnity that no other scene could 
have inspired." 

It was our pleasure to talk, recently, with 
Mr. Houston, and to show him Mr. Talmadge's 
account of his baptism, with a photograph of 
the same. He confirmed the absolute accuracy 
of both. 

It is worthy of note that the First Methodist 
Church of Lexington, Ky., has a baptistry. 

It will also be seen that the symbolism 
of baptism absolutely demands immersion. The 
New Testament clearly teaches that baptism 
represents a death, burial and resurrection. If 
baptism does not signify the burial and resurrec- 
tion of Christ, then there is no scriptural symbol 
commanded to symbolize this fact. This sym- 
bolism is plainly taught in Romans 6 -A. 

To meet the demands of New Testament bap- 
tism and fulfill its symbolism of the ordinance, 
there must be; (1) water; (2) a resurrection 
from the burial in water. There is, to us, no 
sweeter or more sacred sight to be witnessed on 
this earth, than to see a poor sinner, saved by 



242 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

grace, following his Lord, buried in the liquid 
grave, thus testifying to a dying world that he 
is dead to sin, and that as Christ arose from the 
dead, he shall also rise to walk in the newness 
of life. 

To destroy the Scriptural symbolism of bap- 
tism is to make it utterly meaningless and use- 
less. Better no baptism than a baptism that 
teaches contrary to the commands of Christ. It 
may be replied that baptism is only a figure. 
Granted that this is true, it is likewise true that 
a figure represents something, and by changing 
the figure, it ceases to represent that for which 
it stood. The fact that baptism is a figure shows 
that it figures something. Tampering with facts 
and juggling with figures, are alike reprehensi- 
ble, and often leads to serious trouble. 

The utter folly of trying to force the 'Scrip- 
tures to teach sprinkling will further appear by 
substituting the word ''sprinkling" for the 
word ''baptize." If to baptize means to im- 
merse, then we should be able to substitute the 
word "immerse" wherever the word "baptize" 
occurs in the New Testament. It is just as true 
that if the word baptize means to sprinkle, we 
should be able to substitute the word sprinkle 
for the word "baptize" wherever the word 
"baptize" occurs in the New Testament. The 



THE ACT OP BAPTISM. 



243 



worth and fairness of this conclusive test will 
readily commend itself to all fair-minded peo- 
ple. The following parallel columns tell their 
own story: 

St. Matthew 3 :16— 



And Jesus 
when h€ was 
baptized, went 
straightway out 
of the water. 

John 3:23— 

And John was 
also baptizing 
in Aenon near 
Salim because 
there was much 
water there, and 
they came and 
were baptized. 

Acts 8 :38— 

And he com- 
manded the 
chariot to stand 
still; and they 
went down both 
into the water, 
both Philip and 
the eunuch; and 
he baptized 
him. 



And Jesus 

when he was 
immersed, went 
straightway out 
of the water. 



And John was 
also immersing 
in Aenon near 
Salim because 
there was much 
water there, and 
they came and 
were Immersed. 



And he com- 
manded the 
chariot to stand 
still; and they 
went down both 
into the water, 
both Philip and 
the eunuch; and 
h 6 immersed 
him. 



And J e c u s 

when he was 
sprinkled, went 
straightway out 
of the water. 



And John was 
also sprinkling 
in Aenon near 
(Salim because 
there was much 
water there, and 
they came and 
were sprinkled. 



And he com- 
manded the 
chariot to stand 
still; and they 
went down both 
into the water, 
both Philip and 
the eunuch; and 
h e sprinkled 
him. 



Romans 6 :4 — 



Therefore we Therefore we Therefore we 
are buried with are buried with are buried with 
him by baptism him by immer- him by sprink- 



244 THE BAPTIST DEBT TO THE WORLD. 

into death; that slon into death; ling into death; 
like as Christ that like as that like as 
was raised up Christ v/as rais- Christ was rais- 
from the dead ed up from the ed up from the 
by the glory of dead by the glo- dead by the glo- 
the Father, even ry of th^e Fath- ry of the Fath- 
so we also er, even so we er, even so we 
should walk in also should also should 
newness of life, walk in new- walk in new- 
ness of life. ness of life. 

Col. 2:12- 

Buried with Buried with Buried with 
him in baptism him in Immer- him. in sprlnk- 
wherefore also slon wherefore ling, wherefore 
ye are risen also ye are ris- also we are ne 
with h i m en with him en with him 
through the through the through the 
faith of the op- faith of the op- faith of the op- 
eration of God, eration of God, eration of God, 
who hath raised who hath raised who hath raised 
him from the him from the him from the 
dead. dead. dead. 

The very fact that Baptist baptism is taken 
at full face value by all denominations, is an ad- 
mission, on their part, that immersion is essen- 
ital to baptism. Indeed, any denomination that 
receives Baptist baptism is estopped from deny- 
ing the fact that Christ was immersed. Would 
it not be better for all to have a baptism that 
none can question? It is true, and we believe 
rightly, that many people have placed an inter- 
rogation point after every baptism other than 
that administered by Baptists. Why not act 



THE ACT OF BAPTISM 245 

in regard to our baptism a3 we do concerning 
our cash ? Everyone wishes money about wbicli 
there is no question. Very few would be dis- 
posed to accept money which many, and among 
them, a number of experts, believed to be. coun- 
terfeit. Why not use the same judgment in con- 
nection with baptism? 

If the many who are clamoring for union, at 
any price, are really in earnest in their conten- 
tion, they need go no farther than the front 
seat in a Baptist church. Since they acknowl- 
edge Baptist baptism as Scriptural, why not 
unite on Baptist baptism? Here is a real op- 
portunity for our uniontarian friends, and one 
that offers a conclusive test of their sincerity. 
"If ye love me, ye will keep my command- 
ments.* 



